

HIBW MM 




■■■HL 



/ 



IN SCHOOL. 



Frontispiece^ Page 376 



Little People of Asia 



MVS. hUrnet (l^ n ) / 
OLIVE THORNE MILLER 

AUTHOR OF "LITTLE FOLKS IN FEATHERS AND FUR," " QUEER PETS AT MARCY'S," ETC. 




E. P. BUTTON & COMPANY 

39 WEST TWENTY-THIRD STREET 
l 883 

\ 



COPYKIGHT. 
IS82, 

By E. P. DUTTON & CO. 



3 No 



PRESS OF J. J. LITTLE L CO., 
NOS. 10 TO 20 ASTOR PLACE, NEW YORK* 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER PAGE 

1. — To Begin 9 

2. — Turkish Little People ; the Salted Baby 16 

3. — Syrian Little People; the Oiled Baby 60 

4. — Persian Little People ; the Bundled-up Baby 98 

5. — Kirghiz Little People; the Baby without a Home. 117 

6. — Hindu Little People; the Baby who never Cries.. 130 

7. — Tibetan Little People ; the Baby in Dressing-gown. 189 

8. — Tartar Little People ; the Buttered Baby 203 

9. — Siamese Little People; the Dyed Baby..... 223 

10. — Siberian Little People ; Babies under the Snow . . . 262 

11. — Eskimo Little People; More Half-frozen Babies... 281 

12. — Tuski Little People ; Babies up in the Corner 296 

13. — Chinese Little People; the Old-Man Baby 307 

14. — Japanese Little People ; the Happiest of All 360 



Little People of Asia, 



CHAPTER I. 

TO BEGIN. 

There are many queer things in this big world of ours, but 
there's nothing queerer, I think, than the way children live in 
different parts of it. 

I have always wondered how the little Turks pass away their 
time, what they play with, and how they feel, bundled up like 
rolls of dry-goods. I have great curiosity to know how it 
would feel to be a China girl or boy, and have feet three 
inches long, or the hair all shaved off the head ; and I've 
tried to fancy how it would seem to live in a tent like a 
Tartar youngster, never knowing this week where one will be 
the next, and thinking a horse is the finest thing in the world. 

Well ; being so interested in the ways of little people, I have 
been for many years trying to find out about them. I said to 

9 



» 



IO 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 




myself, " I will learn what the youngsters do all over the world ; 
what they play, what they have to eat, what sort of clothes they 
wear, and then I will put it all in a beautiful book for our own little 
people to read ;" and thinking so, I went 
to work. 

But, dear me ! what a time I had ! 
What shelves full of books I waded 
through, turning over page after page 
and chapter after chapter of travels, 
about bad roads, and untidy hotels 
where one couldn't get anything fit to 
eat, and about the weather, and the 
small discomforts of travelers — just to 
find now and then a chance word about 
the children. 

I almost began to think there were no 
children in those far-off countries, for you know — or if you do 
not I will tell you — that most 
grown-up travelers fill their books 
with talk about the big folks, and 
the sights of the country, and 
sprinkle them pretty thickly with 
their own troubles in getting 
about, and for any notice they 
take of little people they might 
as well be blind. 

But I would not be discour- 
aged. I had set my heart on tell- 
ing you young people all about 



IN A BASKET. 




your little playfellows on the other side of the globe, so I 



QUEER BABIES. 



1 1 



kept on digging in the big books, and I looked over all the 
papers and magazines, and I went to see everybody I could 
hear of who had been in those far-off countries, and I asked — 
! as many questions as any of you curious boys or girls could 
do yourself — and all for the book I wanted to make for you. 

And now here it is, and I hope you'll like it. I have gathered 
here a bit and there a bit, and have tried to be very sure that 
every word is true. 

The curious things that I've found out about little folks begin 
at the very beginning ; for nothing is 
more strange than the way people 
treat babies. Having his head shaved 
clean as the back of his hand, is not 
specially queer to a youngster who had 
a boiling hot omelet poultice on the 
same head before he was two days 
old — is it now ? 

Three inch long feet are not odd to 
an unfortunate girl who had her wrists 
tied together when a baby to make 

° J IN ARMS 

her truthful ; dressing in stripes of 

paint, with loads of brass jewelry, can't be much of a surprise 
to one who spent every day of baby life half buried in the 
ground, set out like a plant. 

Living in a six-foot tent, and never having any bigger house, 
comes natural enough lo a child whose only cradle was a shoe. 

You think I'm joking? Far from it! These are not half the 
wonders that happen every day in the world. Let me tell you. 

It is the mother of Guinea who buries her baby alive, up to 
its waist, in warm sand ; and it is to keep it out of mischief 




12 



LITTLE PEOPLE OE ASIA. 



while she works. The little Lapp is the youngster whose cradle 
is a shoe — a big affair, covered with skin and stuffed with soft 
moss, in which he can either be hung to a tree, or covered up 
in the snow while Mamma goes to church. 

The Eskimo carries her baby inside her fur sack, at the 
back of her neck, and our own Indians strap baby to a board, 
and sling him over the shoulders. 




QUKER BABY CARRIAGE. 



In India the babies ride in a basket hanging from Mamma's 
head, as you see on page IO, or on her hip, or in a hammock, 
as in the little way-side sketch, or, in some parts they are 
adorned with a nose-ring, like their mother's, and wrapped up 
in a veil like her also. 

In China they're tied to an older child's back, and among the 
Mongolians they travel about in bags slung on a camel's side. 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



One mother lays her baby where a stream of water will fall on 
its head, to make it tough, she says ; another covers hers with 
paste, and a third hangs hers in baskets from a straight sup- 




IN A HAMMOCK. 



port, as you see in the picture on page 12, where the family 
have stopped to rest, and left the little ones in their baskets 
ready to be carried on their journey again. 



AN OMELET ON BABY'S HEAD. 



The Bulgarian mother it is who puts a hot omelet to the little 
one's head, to make it solid and protect it from sunstroke ; and 
the Bulgarian baby doesn't like it any better than you would. 
He makes a great row about it, I assure you. 

The Turkoman Mamma carries her little one in a hammock, 
as you see on the preceding page ; but the queerest cradle of all 
is this from Central Asia. 




THE ODDEST CRADLE OF ALL. 



i6 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA, 



CHAPTER II. 

THE SALTED BABY ; THE LITTLE TURK. 

The Turkish Mamma salts her precious baby. Perhaps this 
is the queerest of all, and it is for the same reason that we salt 
meat — to keep it sweet ! 

This is one of the least of the odd things that happen to him. 
After his salting comes dressing, such as it is, and it is only a 
little shirt ! Oh, yes ! and a red silk cap on the head, with a pearl 
tassel, and some gold coins and charms to keep away evil. 

But after dressing comes wrapping up, for the poor little 
Turk baby is made into a bundle, so that he can stir neither hand 
nor foot, and only move his head. This is the way they do it : 
A quilt is prepared, a yard square ; this is laid out on the floor 
and one corner turned down. On the quilt, baby in his shirt 
and cap is laid cornerwise, with his head over the turned- 
down corner. Then the corners of the quilt are brought up over 
him, after his toes are carefully turned in, and his arms laid flat 
to his sides. Over the quilt is tightly wound a long strip of cloth, 
and the baby is a perfect mummy. 

That is dreadful enough, but worse is to come. First he gets 
his name in this gentle way : His father takes him in his arms, 
carries him behind the door (!) mutters a prayer over him, and 
then shouts in his poor little ear, three times, the name which 
has been selected for him. I suppose he thinks baby is deaf ! 



NO USE TO CRY. 



Then comes the cradle, and I wish you could see the torture- 
box called by that name (or beshik, which means cradle). It is 
a long, narrow box on two rockers. The ends of the rockers 
come up over the top and have a rail across, on which the nurse 
leans to feed the baby ; for when once he gets in he has to stay, 
I can tell you. No use to cry to come up ; u coming up " is almost 
unknown to him. 

In the box is a hard mattress, and no pillow, and in this, on 
his back, the poor little baby bundle is laid. Lest he should 
prove refractory and get out — with all that wrapping up — they 
tie him in ! 

On his breast and his knees are laid small cushions, so that the 
binding will not press on him ; a red gauze veil is thrown over 
him, and thus he is left half a day at a time. When he is hungry he 
is, perhaps, fed, and the rest of the time he amuses himself with 
a little sugar and bread tied up in a rag. 

Poor baby ! If after all this he is restless, he gets a dose of 
opium or something similar, and then he is quiet enough. Some 
babies lie all the time in a stupid, dozing state ; all of them are 
injured by it, and many of them go from their cruel cradles to 
their little graves. 

If anything ails a child, it is thought to be the " evil eye, " 
and some old woman is called in to breathe on it. If that fails, 
they call in the most celebrated sheikh they can find, and he 
breathes on it, and puts on a charm (made of garlic, alum, and a 
verse of the Koran, all sewed up in little triangles of blue cloth), 
and a few amulets of blue glass, such as horseshoes, little hands, 
and so forth. 

If all these wonderful things fail to cure the child, and he dies, 
the easy-going parents wipe their tears, say it is kismet, and go 



i8 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



on with their usual duties. By kismet they mean what we call 
fate. " Whatever is to be, will be," they say, and there's no use 
mourning about it. 

Perhaps there are no more superstitious people on the round 
globe than these same Turks. Nothing happens to them with- 
out supernatural agency, as they believe. If anything is lost, 
some one cast the " evil eye " on it ; if you look sharply at one, 
you are casting the " evil eye " on him. Every action has re- 
gard to omens ; nothing can be done unless the signs are right. 
They believe in dreams, they believe in magic, they believe in 
" spells ;" there's nothingsupernatural that they do not believe in. 

We may laugh at this, but it is a serious matter to them, a 
matter of life and death. Many a girl has died because she 
thought herself bewitched. 

I haven't told you all the things that happen to the baby Turk. 
When he is two days old -invitations are sent out for his first 
reception, to take place on the next day. It is not done by 
means of cards, nor of written notes ; instead, each person in- 
vited receives a bottle of sherbet, a drink made of candied 
sugar and spices. 

The third day the house is thrown open to visitors, and 
everybody comes who chooses, whether invited or not. If he is 
invited, however, he has dinner served to him ; but if not, he has 
to content himself with sherbet. 

This is an affair of great ceremony. Bands of music are on 
hand to escort the most important guests in, and each guest is 
preceded by a servant bearing a gift. If the family is well-to- 
do the present is a basket of sweets, prettily arranged with flow- 
ers and gilt paper, wrapped in gauze, and tied up with ribbons ; 
but if poor, the gift takes a useful form, coffee or provisions. 



A BROOM PROTECTS HIM. 



I 9 



Mamma, gorgeously but rather uncomfortably arrayed and 
placed, receives her lady guests, who say to her, " Wonderful ! 
let it be long-lived and happy." 

And now comes a queer thing. We should hasten to look at 
the baby, and say nice and pleasant things about it ; but if we 
did, its mother would be very angry at us. The Turkish ladies 
scarcely look at it. If they speak of it at all, they call it 
" u gly>" or " naughty," or " dirty ; " and if one ventured so far as 
to look at the poor little creature, it is instantly spat upon — to 
protect it from harm. 

Still worse ; every guest is suspected of throwing an " evil 
eye " on the child, and the moment one goes, measures are 
taken to see if it has been done. How do you suppose thay find 
out? They throw cloves on the fire ! This is not fun, it is dead 
earnest ; and if a clove happens to burst in burning, there's a great 
hue and cry, and the most violent efforts made to avert the bad 
effects. 

These efforts are worthy of the cause. A lock of hair from the 
baby and one from its mother are solemnly burnt ; prayers are 
said, blows are given over the child, and he is spat upon till his 
friends think he is sufficiently treated. 

Another thing : Baby must never be left alone for an instant, 
or he will become possessed by certain evil spirits. Not even 
his mother can protect him from this, but if he must be left, 
as in poor families he sometimes is, a broom standing beside 
him will guard him from danger. 

On the eighth day comes the next great ceremony in the little 
Turk's life ; he goes to the public bath. This is a great affair. 
Company is invited, and they march in procession, baby on the 
lead. Each family sends carpets and bathing linen, and there 



20 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



they all spend the day, having refreshments served, and going 
through various ceremonies considered necessary on the occa- 
sion. The worst, as usual, happens to the baby ; he has hot 
water thrown over his poor little body, and he is rubbed and 
scrubbed till he shrieks and screams like any little westerner of 
you all. 

After this there are for some time no more special ceremo- 
nies ; baby lies in his mummy case, in his box-like cradle, sucks 
his sugar rag, sleeps his opium sleep, and is rocked from morning 
till night, and from night till morning. The rocking-string is 
never out of the hand of mother or nurse. No wonder the black- 
eyed Turkish baby grows solemn and quiet, looking at life with 
calm indifference, seldom laughing or crying, never kicking or 
crowing. He can't kick ; he has nothing to laugh at ; he doesn't 
know how to crow. It is not surprising that a Turk can sit on 
a carpet all day long, sipping coffee, smoking and talking, or 
listening to story-telling. It is no wonder that he is never in 
a hurry, that he regards time as something to be gotten rid of. 
If he can't do a thing to-day he may be able to do it to-morrow, 
and in any case he maintains a repose which we hurrying west- 
ern people can never attain. 

When the baby grows old enough to kick, in spite of his 
wrappings, he is allowed to creep about. Then, too, he begins 
to eat something besides milk; and how do you suppose the 
tender Turkish mother teaches her baby to eat ? 

She prepares a little basket of food, all kinds of fruits and 
sweet things, and gives it to the little one to help itself. The 
child eats whenever it feels like it, and whatever it fancies, from 
the basket. Hundreds of Turkish babies die every year from 
this one cause. 



IN A TURKISH HOUSE. 



22 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



These are queer ways, to be sure. Let me tell you what a 
queer house he lives in. In the first place, when you come up 
to it in the street, you see nothing but a high wall, with a mean- 
looking door in it. You'd think you were going into some 
warehouse or other unattractive place. But inside — if it was the 
house of a well-to-do man — you would find a delightful yard or 
court, with fountains and trees and flowers, and built around 
this yard on all four sides you would see the house.' 

A fine Turkish house is a beautiful thing to see. Our little 
salted baby — if his papa has plenty of money — has grand rooms 
to live in, such as you have read about in the Arabian Nights, 
and even more beautiful, some people say. 

Here is a picture of part of an elegant Turkish room to show 
you how they look, and how the walls are made. The windows 
you see, are very large and open almost the whole wall. On the 
farther side you see the divan, the only seat in a Turkish house. 
It is a wide, low lounge, running around three sides of the room 
generally, and covered with some gay-colored stuff, with big pil- 
lows leaning against the wall. On this the people sit, with feet 
drawn up under them. 

Not a table or a chair ; not a book, paper, or magazine ; not 
a picture nor a nick-nack in sight ; not one of the dozens of 
things we think we must have. What sort of people live here? 

Look at them. Here's the mother in her own room, the harem. 
She half sits up among her pillows on the divan. She has 
very full trousers, which fall in folds over her ankles, as you 
can see in the young girl who is standing up, taking a scolding 
from the old servant on the floor. Then she has a gold-em- 
broidered jacket of velvet or satin, and perhaps a cashmere 
shawl around her waist. 



IN A TURKISH HAREM. 



24 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



Her long hair — which you cannot see in the picture — is 
braided in ever so many fine braids, with gold pieces and jew- 
elry hanging all over them ; and when she is dressed she has 
loads of jewels on arms, and hands, and neck, and head, and 
ears, and ankles, and even toes ; everywhere she can hang a 
precious stone or a gold ornament she hangs one, and a gorgeous 
object she is to behold. 

And that isn't all. Around her head and shoulders, is a veil, 
her feet are bare, and she is smoking a pipe, or more politely a 
narghile. You see it standing on the floor, under the care oi the 
old servant, while the lady holds the mouth-piece in her hand. 

A strange looking mother, to be sure ! But how does the father 
look? Here he is in his own part of the house — for Turkish 
houses, however poor, are always in two parts, the women's, or 
the harem, and the men's, and they are as separate as though 
they were under different roofs. 

His room is as big and as bare as hers, and there he sits 
cross-legged among his cushions, with wide trowsers that hang 
like a skirt when he walks, a wadded dressing-gown, generally 
held together by a rich shawl, and on his head a turban. If 
he isn't smoking he is drinking coffee. 

There you have the father and mother; they're not much 
like yours, you see, at least on the outside. 

How about the children ? Well ; they look about as odd, 
to our eyes. The boy dresses exactly like his grave papa, in 
turban and wide trowsers, pointed slippers, and a dressing 
gown, and the girl is a copy of mamma, in silks and satins, 
with embroidery and jewels, and pink dye on fingers and toes, 
and a veil, if she's old enough. 

But you don't see how people live in such a house ! How do 



A TURKISH PAPA. 



26 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



they eat without a table to hold the dinner? how do they 
keep warm without a fire ? how do they light the house without 
gas, or a place to stand a lamp? 

I'll tell you how the little Turks pass their day. When they 
hear that their father is up, and taking his coffee — which is all 
he takes for breakfast, they jump out of bed and run and ask 
him for money. 

In their night-clothes ? I hear you cry. 

Alas, children ! Turks have no night-clothes ; they sleep in 
their day garments. In the same wadded dressing-gown sort of 
a coat that he wears always in the house, the boy lies down to 
sleep ; and in all her in-door finery of silks and satins, the girl 
does the same. So do their father and mother, and so does 
nearly everybody. No fuss of dressing, you see. I'm afraid 
you boys would like, that. A new garment is put on once for all, 
and worn night and day till worn out, or given away. 

Don't forget, by the way, that I am telling you about Turkish 
customs, as they have been for ages, and not about the ways 
of Turks who have been trying to live like Europeans, of late. 

To go on with the children's day. They ask for money every 
morning ; every Turkish youngster, down to the very beggars 
— and they generally get a little. 

As soon as they leave their beds the slaves begin to roll them 
up from jthe floor. 

From the floor! no bedsteads? Not a bedstead in all Turkey. 
At night, the slaves — which are the only servants among the 
Turks — spread on the floor for each one a mattress, or rather a 
bag of wool, then a sheet and narrow pillow, with linen case open 
at both ends, then a thick coverlid of satin or brocade (or chintz, 
if the people are poor), with the upper sheet sewed on to it. 



HE NEVER FORGETS HIS PRAYERS. 



27 



In the morning the beds are rolled up and packed away in 
closets, and the room is ready for any use. So you see there's not 
only no bedstead, but no bedroom in the " Jewel," which the 
Turks consider 
their country. 

A s soon as 
papa has fin- 
ished his two 
or three cups 
of coffee, cups 
about the size 
of a big thim- 
b 1 e , h e pre- 
pares to go 
out. He lays 
off his dressing 
gown, puts on 
a long-sleeved 
vest and a coat 
or jacket of 
some sort, and 
goes to the ba- 
zar, if he's a 
merchant, or to 
the barber's, or 
a coffee-house, 

where he will sit and sip coffee, and smoke, and talk, or listen to 
story-telling all day, if he has no pressing business to attend to. 
But whatever he does you may be sure he never forgets to go 
through his prayers at certain appointed hours of every day. 




i^=: f0 tl 



A TURK AT HIS PRAYERS. 



28 LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 

When the hour arrives, the good Mohammedan spreads his 
prayer carpet on the floor, wherever he may be, turns his face 
toward the city of Mecca, and goes through certain forms. The 
pictures show two of the attitudes. 

And mamma? Well, she plans her day ; makes up her mind 
whether she will visit some friends or go and ride in her carriage 




ANOTHER POSITION OF PRAYER. 



(if she has one), or make a trip to the bazar to buy something, 
or whether she will go to the bath. 

Meanwhile the children have been out, and spent their money 
on cakes and sweet things, and had something to eat, though 
the first regular meal is at ten or eleven o'clock. If they go to 
school they start off with their particular slave to take care of 



NAUGHTY BOYS ARE WHIPPED. 



2 9 



them, and an expensive school-bag to hold the Koran, their only 
school book. School is a droll place ; no arithmetic and geogra- 
phy, no writing and drawing, nothing is taught but religion, the 
Koran, how to read it in Arabic, and sometimes what it means. 

That is, usually. In some schools in Damascus writing is 
taught as well as arithmetic. 

In these schools the boys sit on the floor, cross-legged, hold- 
ing the paper in the left hands, and taking ink out of long brass 
inkstands worn in the girdles. 

Where they learn only the Koran they are placed in rows, 
standing on their knees, and each one holding his book, from 
which he reads the lesson aloud, while he sways his body back 
and forth all the time ; — one or two hundred together some- 
times. 

Different from your school, isn't it? 

At one end of the room sits the master, on a mat, with pipe 
in one hand and rod in the other. Naughty boys are whipped 
with the rod, or decorated with a wooden hobble over the ankle. 

You may laugh at this sort of a school, but it's a very impor- 
tant thing in the life of a little Turk. Nothing is done without 
certain ceremonies, and the first day in school is rather funny, 
— as we look at it. 

To begin with, the child, who is always quite young when he 
enters school, has a new suit of clothes, and an expensive 
school-bag, with the Koran, as I told you. 

Thus prepared his father leads him to school, and as a sort of 
examination before the teacher, he recites the creed, that is, you 
know, what all good Mohammedans believe. 

This ceremony over, the new scholar kisses the teacher's hand, 
and then joins the class, and the father goes home. 



30 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



This isn't all. After prayers are recited, the scholars form a 
procession, headed by the teacher, and lead home the new boy. 
As they go through the streets the teacher chants prayers, and 
the scholars respond to each one, " Amin ! Amin !" 

When they reach the boy's house the father meets them, 
offers refreshments, and what they probably like better, a piece 
of money (about one cent), to each schoolmate of his son. 
Then comes a rush into the street to find some peddler of 
sweets, and in a few minutes every cent is spent. 

This curious ceremony is repeated at the first examination, 
when the teacher is presented with some money and clothes. 

Out of school hours the youngsters do their best to have a 
good time. The poor children play in the streets, make mud 
pies, and paddle in the water, as they do nearer home ; while the 
boys and girls of richer houses play around the house or the court. 

I told you about the court, you remember. It is a delightful 
place generally, and entirely hidden from the world outside. 
Here the children play, and here the father comes to spend 
the cool hours of a summer evening. 

But what do the children have for playthings? Now, alas! 
I know you will feel sorry for your poor little Turk, when I give 
you a list of the playthings, for I can give you a list. Think of 
a list of your playthings ! Think of the hundreds of different 
things in a toy-shop and then hear what these children have.. 

The girls have a miserable apology for a doll — it is impossible 
to imagine a girl who never had a doll — made of bundles of 
rags, and a cradle for the same. The bo)^s have rattles and 
trumpets, and at certain seasons of the year a figure, a sort of 
punchinello, made of wood and daubed with bright-colored 
paint, without regard to where it should be put on. 



WHAT THEY PLAY WITH. 



31 



They have also a few tops of terra cotta. That is all. No 
books or papers for them ; a few games, such as " knuckle 
bones " (or jack-stones, as you say), ball, and bows and arrows ; 
scarcely any other toys. 

Even these are in spite of the teaching of Mohamet, their 
great prophet. He says this hard thing about the children : 
" Our religion forbids children to have any toys. Studies must 
be directed toward religion and war, and for that reason they 
must ride, and use the bow and gun, but nothing else." 

Boys are meant to be grave little copies of their dignified 
papa, and they are funny little old men, when in their father's 
room, in the presence of guests. At such times the smallest 
Turk will walk in with the utmost dignity, make a low bow, 
and sit down gravely in the farther corner, speaking only when 
spoken to, and in every way trying to behave like a grown-up 
man. 

This would be all very well if it would last, but, sad to say, 
no sooner does the boy get into the other part of the house than 
he acts like a very different person. He uses bad language, 
plays ill-natured jokes on the slaves, teases everybody, and if 
he cannot have what he wants, he stamps, and pounds, and 
screams, and behaves very badly indeed. 

To return to their amusements. They partake of their mother's 
entertainments, for you must remember that Turkish women, 
kept secluded in the harem, with little education, are not much 
more than children themselves. Their principal enjoyments are 
shopping, visiting, and going to the bath. Whichever mamma 
decides to do she begins to prepare for the first thing in the 
morning. 

She does not simply slip on a street dress and pair of walking 



32 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF A SLA. 



boots, as does your mamma ; she spends hours at her toilet. 
She first whitens her face to a fashionable shade with some cos- 
metic, and then rouges her cheeks. She blackens her eyebrows 
and eye-lashes ; and after all that there are fifty things to be 
done before she is ready to put on her street garments ; for, how- 
ever much time she may spend on her dress, when she goes into 
the street she must look like every other Turkish lady, so that 
her dearest friend would not know her. 

She puts on then a great wrap, a sort of cloak, which covers 
her all up, and a thick veil, which only allows her eyes to be 
seen. Now she looks like a bundle of dry goods, and now it is 
proper for her to go out. 

Here is a picture of her in her street-dress, only when she goes 
out she will draw her cloak closely around her, and her veil 
tightly over her face. 

If she has a carriage, the children will tease all the morning to 
go too ; and after she has taken her seat, they run and scramble 
and quarrel to get seats also. 

If a picnic is proposed, which it very often is, they drive out 
to some suitable place and spend the day, or what is left of it, 
sitting on carpets they have brought with them, eating sweets, 
smoking cigarettes, and chatting with their friends. 

It is only when on a journey or some serious business that the 
Turk takes his wife out with him, as you see in the picture over 
the leaf, of the curious round boat called the knfa. 

It reminds one of the three wise men of Gotham, who went to 
sea in a tub. But this boat is of basket-work, made water-tight, 
and it goes along fast enough for a Turk, who's never in a hurry, 
you know. 

If a visit is what they go out for, they try to get to the 



AN EARLY CALL. 



33 



friend's house about sunrise, as that is the fashionable hour for 
a call. When they enter the house a curious greeting takes 




GOING OUT. 



place, as you see in the picture on page 35, of a formal call. 
Each lady touches her finger-tips to her heart, to her lips, and to 



34 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



her forehead; they then kiss each other on both cheeks, take 
off their veils and wraps and sit down. 

Very soon coffee and sweets of some sort are brought in, and 
then cigarettes or pipes. 

Queer as it seems to us, pipes are so commonly smoked by 
everybody that families have to keep a great many to offer to 




guests, as well as some for the servants to use and offer to their 
friends. 

In the same picture you see a Turkish child, and doesn't he 
look like his papa, cut down ? 

You would laugh to see refreshments served, that is, unless 
you were very well bred indeed. A servant comes to you with 



A FORMAL CALL. 



36 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



a tray, on which are two dishes of a sort of preserve or jam, cups 
of water, and two spoon-holders, one full of clean teaspoons, the 
other empty. 

What would you do? If you were acquainted with Turkish 
manners you would do thus : take a clean teaspoon, dip it into 
one of the dishes of jam, put it in your mouth, follow it at 
once with a sip of water, as though it held a pill you must 
swallow, and then put the spoon into the empty glass. 

The servant would pass on to the next guest, and the per- 
formance would be repeated. No one takes more than one 
taste, and everyone, of course, takes a clean spoon. 

I spoke of the bath as an amusement. You do not see any 
fun in it, I presume, unless it's a bath in the sea on a fine day ; 
but to the little Turks it's a holiday. Every house in Turkey 
has a bath, to begin with, if it's nothing more than a big earthen 
jar buried up to its rim in the ground, which the poorest 
have. 

The finest houses have suits of rooms given up to this pur- 
pose, and the Turkish bath — as you perhaps know — has rooms 
of different degrees of heat, and is not a simple plunge into 
water like ours, but is a series of scrubbings, and punching, and 
kneading, and steaming, and shampooing, and resting, which 
requires at least an hour, and may be stretched out by those 
who like it, to last all day. 

Well, when a Turkish family, that is to say, mother and chil- 
dren, start for the public bath, which they do every three or 
four weeks (no matter how fine a bath they may have at home), 
the slaves go ahead with bundles of clothes, towels, and refresh- 
ments, and the family come prepared to stay all day. 

They make a sort of general visit of it, chatting with friends, 



SOUR MILK TO DRINK. 



37 



exchanging items of news, telling stories, eating, and so forth. 
So they spend the whole day. 

If mamma decides to go to the bazar, either to buy some- 
thing, to get a letter written by professional writers, or to pro- 
cure a charm to cure a disease, or bring harm to an enemy, the 
children have fine times. 

The bazar, you must know, takes the place of our various 
shops. There, under a roof, in small sort of niches, sit old 
Turks, cross-legged, pipe in hand, to sell their wares. There 
one can buy anything the city furnishes ; there also one can 
have jewelry made from his own gold, and see the jeweler make 
it, sitting on the ground before his tiny brasier. 

In the bazar the youngsters find plenty of use for their 
money ; they can buy a drink of sour milk, for instance. You 
cry out at that — I can hear you — but the young Turk likes it. 

Then, if he wants to eat, he can buy a sheet of bread, like a 
pancake, and a skewer of chunks of meat, nicely browned in 
the oven. Or he can stop the old Turk who goes by, calling 
out : 

" O, bountiful one ! Cool and refreshing ! Purify thy blood ! " 
and out of his skin bottle he can have a drink of — what do you 
guess ? — liquorice water! That you'd like, / know. 

But wherever the family spends the day, they must be sure 
to be home before the dinner hour, which is about sunset. At 
that time papa Turk comes home, and what he would do if he 
found nobody there, I can't imagine. If he was like the Turks 
in our story books, I suppose he'd cut off their heads ; but as 
he is not, he would probably tell them they must stay at home 
the next day. 

Then comes dinner; and that is so very different from ours, 



38 



LI TILE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 




IN THE HAREM. 



that I'm sure you'll like to hear about it. In the first place, the 
father eats his alone, or with guests if he has any, in his part of 
the house, and the mother eats hers with her children, or guests, 



THEY EAT WITH THE FINGERS. 



39 



in her part. It is considered very improper for gentlemen and 
ladies to eat together, as we do. 

The first thing on serving dinner, is to bring in the table — 
not a big extension dining table like ours, but a sort of low 
stool, a foot or so high, and about the same in width, as you 
see in this picture, where the ladies are entertained by a musical 
slave. 

On this is placed a round tray of copper, or gold, if the 
family is wealthy, containing a piece of thin bread for each 
person, and the salt or other condiments, that may be needed. 
No knives, forks, or napkins ! — not a plate, or a glass, nor a cup, 
and no sign of a chair to sit on. How would you manage to 
eat? 

As fingers take the place of forks, of course they should be 
clean, so the first business is to wash them. A slave, or per- 
haps two, comes around to every one in the room with a curious 
arrangement for the purpose. There is a basin with a per- 
forated cover, so that the water once used may be out of sight, 
and a queer-shaped pitcher. 

He (or she) comes to the first one, who holds the hands over 
the basin while he pours water over them. The hands are then 
dried on a gold-embroidered towel, which hangs over his arm, 
and he passes to the next. This done, the family gather around 
the table, sitting cross-legged on the floor. As many as eight 
can sit at one of these tiny tables. 

Now comes dinner. It is brought in on a large tray and put 
on the floor, and each dish in turn is placed on the tray from 
which they eat. If soup is first, every one has a spoon, and 
all dip into the same dish. Then that is taken away and an- 
other dish put on. Each one takes what he likes, with his 



40 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



fingers of course, and puts it into his mouth, and so on till all 
is eaten, or has been removed. 

" Horrid ! " " Disgusting ! " I hear you say, and so it seems 
to tell of it, but seen it is quite different. Only three fingers 
are used in the operation, the thumb and first two fingers of the 
left hand. The meat is cut in small pieces, and cooked to rags 
almost, so there is no cutting necessary, and after it is over the 
hand-washing comes in again. Then they return to their cush- 
ions, and coffee in cups about big enough for a doll, is served, 
and last of all, cigarettes or pipes. , 

After dinner come different amusements ; no games, no plays 
in which the family join, but some sort of entertainment furn- 
ished by people hired for the purpose. It may be a professional 
story-teller, for this is one of the best loved amusements in 
Turkey. From the grave, turbaned papa himself, down to the 
meanest slave in the kitchen, every one delights in a story. 
The story-teller is seated in the place of honor, provided with re- 
freshment, and the family gather around on the floor, or on the 
divan, to listen, while tall candles, or lamps on tall standards, are 
set on the floor. 

Shall I tell you one? Would you like to listen to a genu- 
ine Turkish story, which has no doubt been told a thousand 
times in coffee-houses, in harems, in barber shops, all over 
Turkey ? 

Well ; I thought you would like one, and so I set out to find 
one for you, never thinking what a labor I had undertaken. 
You see the trouble is, in the way they tell them. I could find 
plenty of stories which were interesting, but the Turkish way of 
talking, which will do very well for people who are contented 
to sit all day sipping coffee and smoking, and listening to a 



HOW THEY TELL A STORY. 



41 



story-teller, would not do at all for a lively young American 
who finds it hard to sit still five minutes. 

Now, honestly, tell me how you would like this : 

" There was once in Damascus a man by name , 

with the honey of whose lips the poison of hardships was always 
mixed. Day and night he hastened like the breeze from North 
to South in the world of exertion, and was burning brightly 
like straw, from his endeavors in the oven of acquisition, in order 
to gain a loaf of bread, and to feed his family." 

Isn't that a round about way to say that the man had to 
work hard to support his family ? I knew you would cry out 
impatiently, and perhaps throw down the book, or at the very 
least, "skip." 

Now, it grieves me to have one of you little people throw 
down my book, but it goes to my heart to have you " skip." I 
can't bear to give you a skipping book. So I thought, that 
although it was curious for grown-ups to read, this Turkish 
style wouldn't do for youngsters, and I finally found a story 
which shows the sort that are told in Turkey, but is a little more 
readable for you. 

It is one of the original " Arabian Nights " stories, but is not 
always included in that book, and when found there, it is not 
quite like this. We will call it 

Ali and the Haunted House. 

Now listen : 

" Ali of Cairo had inherited a fair property from his father ; 
which he had spent in dissipation, and when almost destitute, 
quitting his family and native town for foreign parts, wander- 
ing from place to place, and obtaining the hospitality of old 



42 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



friends of his respected parent. He was passed on, as it were, 
from one to another, until at length he arrived at the gates of 
Cairo. 

" He had but a few pieces in his purse when he halted there 
at sunset, just as the gate-keepers were closing the massive 
doors. He chatted with them as they admitted him, and in 
answer to their inquiries as to who he was (for they perceived 
by his language and bearing that his station was superior to 
what his shabby garments would have indicated), he cleverly in- 
sinuated that having ridden in advance of his own caravan to 
procure a warehouse sufficiently large for the large bulk of mer- 
chandise he had brought with him, he had been interrupted by 
robbers, who had stripped him to the skin, but had mercifully 
thrown him the worthless clothes he now wore. 

" ' By good luck,' said he, 4 1 found stuck in the grimy pocket 
of this robe a single piece of gold, which will suffice to yield us 
all a tolerable supper.' 

" By this manoeuvre, and by his affability and plausible frank- 
ness, he won both their hearts and their credence, so that the 
next morning he was confidently introduced by them to the 
Syndic of the merchants, as a plundered but wealthy trader, 
who was seeking to hire a dwelling-place and stores in that 
commercial city. 

" His winning tongue and specious manners corroborated the 
story of the gate-keepers, and secured him the hospitality of the 
worthy trader. After the bath and dinner, the host bade his 
slave show his guest the two houses that were to be let, and to 
deliver up to Ali the key of whichever he might prefer. 

" There were three ancient but well-preserved structures in a 
row, all of which were then unoccupied. Ali looked over two of 



A LI SLEEPS IN THE UNLUCKY HOUSE. 



43 



them with a fastidious air, and then questioned the attendant 
respecting the ownership of the third. 

" ' That likewise belongs to my master/ replied the slave ; ' but 
we no longer show it, for it is an unlucky house. Each tenant 
has perished the first night he slept within- its walls.' 

" Ali, however, persisted, and found the house more commo- 
dious and far more magnificent in its decorations than the 
two adjoining premises. 

"'I will take this, and no other,' he persisted, for he hoped 
that he might thus be rid of his miserable existence, and the 
shuffling, scampish mode of living to which his necessities had 
driven him. 

" ' I may not let it to you without the consent of my master/ 
the slave remarked ; ' but of course it would be for his interest 
to have it occupied.' 

" They returned then to the owner's house, who, after some 
little conscientious denial, agreed to accept him as a tenant, upon 
his signing a paper by which he acknowledged his own cogni- 
zance of the danger, and exonerated his landlord from all 
responsibility. The latter, in the extreme of his good-nature, 
even lent the prodigal the necessary furniture for the night, and 
sent him lights and a comfortable supper. 

" When he had performed the fitting attention, had supped, 
and then (for the thoughts of impending death had roused him 
to repentance for his past profligacy and present knavishness) 
prayed fervently for a happier and better life, should he be 
destined to survive the anticipated peril, he calmly laid himself 
down on his pallet in a superbly-fitted saloon, where he proposed 
to pass the night. 

" Scarcely had he extinguished his candle when a lurid light 



44 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



seemed to roll like a cloud toward him, and a mighty voice roared 
in his ears : 

" ' Ali, son of Hassan ! shall I send down the gold ? ' 

" Not a whit dismayed, for his fortunes were desperate, his 
answer was bold and prompt : 

'"Ay; down with it. and the sooner the better! ' 

Hardly had he ceased to speak, when, hurled as it were from a 
catapult, the gold descended from the fretted ceiling in one con- 
tinuously pelting shower, until the quantity was so vast as to 
endanger the stability of the flooring. Not any of it, however, 
fell upon himself, but the coins were piled in a vast, glittering 
circle all around him. 

" 1 Now that my task is accomplished, dismiss me to my pris- 
tine freedom,' again roared the bell-mouthed voice, which shook 
the very walls by its reverberations. 

" ' I adjure thee, in the most holy name of Allah, that thou 
explain to me the meaning of this marvel.' 

" 'From distant ages the gold was stored for Ali, son of Has- 
san, and delivered to my charge by one of his ancestors, a 
potent magician, that I might render it up to him at his de- 
mand. Whosoever, then, has ventured here and been terrified 
at my voice, him have I slain. Thou, on the contrary, hast 
fearlessly claimed thine own, and to thee have I now delivered 
it. There is yet another treasure reserved for thee in the land 
of Yemen, and when thou shalt have journeyed thither it will 
be found by thee. And now, free me, mortal, from my servi^ 
tude.' 

" ' Bring me that treasure likewise, and do me yet another ser- 
vice, and I will liberate thee forever.' 

" ' Swear it !' solemnly tolled the awful voice. 



HE HIDES THE GOLD. 



45 



" 1 By him who framed the talisman which enthralled thee, I 
swear it ! Gently bring hither my wife and children, so as to 
neither hurt nor terrify them, along with the other treasure thou 
hast spoken of, and henceforth thou art free forever.' 

" ' Thanks, mortal ; I go to fetch them. In three days expect 
thy family in Cairo. They shall enter the city with a stately 
procession, so as not to shame thee (for all things are known to 
me), and thy Arabian wealth shall be brought with them. ' 

" And darkness resumed possession of the apartment, for the 
spirit had departed. 

" The prodigal slept tranquilly till the morning, when he arose 
early and searched about the roomy mansion for a hiding-place 
for his golden heaps. Chance again favored him ; there was a 
discolored slab in the flooring of the saloon, which was connected 
with a turning-pin, and which, by a peculiar pressure, could be 
made to slip away beneath the rest of the pavement. 

" He had seen one of these in his old home ; so, fancying the 
discolored slab might be movable, he tried the peculiar knack, 
and to his intense gratification saw the marble slide away, re- 
vealing to his eyes a capacious treasure vault, to which access 
was obtained by a narrow, winding flight of stairs. 

" Driving on the great circle of coin toward the aperture, and 
then shoveling down the countless gold with both hands, he 
barely contrived to store away one-third of it before a loud rap- 
ping at the front door compelled him to withdraw from his 
energetic labor. 

" Running to the street door, determined to bar all ingress to 
the saloon, he found it was only the slave with whom he had 
conversed the previous day, who, seeing him alive, gave a friendly 
nod, and hastened away to tell the glad tidings to his master. 



4 6 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



" Harder than ever did he work to conceal his golden heaps 
from the expected visit of his host. The last coin was rat- 
tling down the vault, clinking as it fell, when the violent rapping 
at the house door announced the advent of the owner. 

" With a vigorous haul the slab was again replaced, and the 
perspiring prodigal flew down the grand staircase, apologizing as 
he ushered in his visitor for his discourteous yet necessary 
delay. 

" Unwonted toil and a dirty floor had not improved the gen- 
eral appearance of Ali, so that his landlord, after congratulating 
him on his safety, and inquiring whether anything disagreeable 
had disturbed his slumbers (to which question the tenant smil- 
ingly replied in the negative), dryly asked how long it would 
be before his goods arrived. 

" ' In three days, without fail ; my caravan is too well guarded 
to be despoiled. Meanwhile, if I cannot get trust, I shall pa- 
tiently submit to these filthy clothes, and these unfurnished 
walls.' 

" Assurance begets confidence. The trusting merchant intro- 
duced him to his own tradesmen, and having related his story 
in the public bazar, presents of all sorts and from all quarters 
poured steadily upon him. His kind landlord even lent his 
slaves to prepare the house for the reception of his family. 

" When the appointed time had come, the guardian spirit 
again appeared to the lucky one, saying : 

" 'Arise, and meet thy treasure and thy harem, which are 
within a few hours' journey of the city. Part of thy wealth con- 
sists of costly merchandise, the rich clothing of thy family was 
taken from it ; but the mules, horses, camels, slaves, and escort 
are all genii.' 



THE FAMILY ARRIVES IN GREAT STATE. 47 



" Then Ali invited his friends and acquaintances to accompany 
him to his caravan, and requested them to bring their harems 
with them, that the women might be mutually introduced. So 
♦ they all went forth together, and sat down to rest in one of the 
suburban gardens which looked upon the desert. 

" They chatted and they joked, but from time to time gazed 
at the wide-spread sands. At last a dust rose like a moving 
column, then obscurely-defined groups seemed to emerge from 
it, and lastly these confused masses seemed to resolve them- 
selves into clear and distinct individuals. 

" The sounds of revelry, too, floated louder and louder toward 
them as the van of the cavalcade, with shout and song and 
dance, march joyously onward. The leader of the escort rode 
forward to our hero, and respectfully saluting him, apologized 
for the delay ; and then the merchants on their richly capar- 
isoned mules, and the ladies in their gilded litters, joined the 
caravan. The whole a stately procession, which, traversing the 
streets, slowly wound its way to the courtyard of the haunted 
mansion. 

" Its new master received them all with the most profuse 
hospitality, and whilst the gentlemen were wondering at the 
vast array of chests which had been unloaded from the mules, 
the ladies were admiring the superb dresses of Ali's harem, 
suitable rather to Sultanas than to private individuals. 

" Thus, in one short day, the fame of his wealth and import- 
ance was spread through the city, and the traders who had given 
him credit when in rags, prided themselves on their discern- 
ment. 

" As Ali privately wished to dismiss the incarnate genii, he 
openly bade the leader of the caravan (the guardian of the 



4 8 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



treasure) to drive the mules and other animals that very even- 
ing a little space from the city, that they might be at daybreak 
ready to start on another journey. 

" When night had buried all things in darkness, the genii, re- 
suming their spiritual essence, were wafted through the sky to 
the realms of ether. 

" Prosperity seemed to improve the morality of Ali, who, 
with every facility for indulgence from his almost illimitable 
wealth, never relapsed into his early wastefulness, and indeed 
became positively thrifty." 

To really appreciate this story, you must imagine it told 
by a grave Turk in a turban, not in the comparatively simple 
language that you have read, but with all the flourish and 
big words possible to cram into it, like the little sample I gave 
you. Moreover, he often walks about while talking, and in 
some measure acts it out, so that it is more like a play than a 
story. 

But now let us go back to the evening in the harem. If they 
do not have a story-teller, they may call in a minstrel, who will 
sing, and play some instrument, making up his songs as he goes 
along. 

Or they may have a kind of Punch and Judy show, that is, a 
little play with wooden figures, though of course, the English 
ruffian, Punch, is replaced by one of the Turkish stamp. This 
is as popular with little Turks as Punch and Judy with 
you. 

Sometimes the entertainment is furnished by a sort of clown, 
who says funny things, as our circus clowns. Sometimes by 
comic plays, or performing animals, as monkeys or bears. 



ALI TELLS A S7VRY. 



49 



The most valued entertainment, however, and the one they 
offer to distinguished guests, is the dance. Not that the hosts 
or their guests jump, or even glide, about the floor them- 
selves. Goodness ! what do you take them for ? Fancy a 
solemn-faced Turk dancing ! 

The Turkish dance is quite a different affair from ours ; it is 
done by professional dancing-girls, and is to look at, not to par- 
ticipate in. Moreover, even a hired dancer does not dance 
much, in Turkey. She postures, she makes gestures, she tells 
a story by her actions. 

On page 51 is a dancer amusing the ladies in a harem. You 
see she has left her slippers on the edge of the little carpet or 
rug, on which she stands. In the corner, also, you can see 
another table, with a tray and dishes on it. 

A lady who spent years among the Turks, in Damascus, tells 
of a dance she saw, where the dancer, a young girl, first told 
how she lived at home with her mother, how she went to the 
bazar, how she did the cooking and washing. Then came a 
change, and she told how her father wanted her to marry, and 
she did not want to, for Ali was fighting far away in the desert, 
and so on to the end of the story, all told by gestures and 
action, without a word to help. 

One dance the same lady saw was a sword dance, where a 
graceful girl described, or acted out a fight, with a scimitar, 
which she whirled around her head and throat, under her arms, 
over her back, so rapidly, one could hardly see it, and within an 
inch of the guest's face, as if she were slashing at sixty ene- 
mies, dancing all the time to the queer, monotonous music. 

When the entertainment is over, and the guests have gone 
home, the slaves come in and spread the beds on the floor ; 



5o 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



everybody tumbles into one, and soon the whole house is asleep 
— thus ends the day for the little Turkish boys and girls. 

I have told you how the Turkish boy behaves ; perhaps you 
would like to know in what way the life of the Turkish girl is 
different. Until she is eight or nine years old, her life is about 
the same as her brother's ; she goes in the street, she runs into 
her father's part of the house, and no restraints are put upon 
her. 

But when she gets to be eight years old, she begins to feel 
grown up. When our girls are just getting interested in their 
studies, she leaves school, considers her education finished, and 
— puts on the veil ! 

That does not sound like anything very terrible, does it ? 
But it is one of the great turning-points of her life. From that 
day she is no longer free to run about ; from that day no man, 
except father and husband, when she has one, must look upon 
her face ; no more may she go into her father's part of the 
house. Henceforth she belongs to the harem. 

About this time her parents begin to think about her mar- 
riage, for she has nothing to do about it herself, except to sub- 
mit to be married to the man, or rather boy, who is selected 
for her. 

Perhaps you think that marriage has no plac# in an account 
of child-life, but it has in Turkey. There little girls are taken 
from their playthings to become wives, and often carry their 
dolls away with their bridal dresses. 

A girl is married as young as eleven years, and a boy as 
young as seventeen. An unmarried woman or an unmarried 
man is unknown in all Turkey ; it is considered a disgrace. 

How do they go about it ? Well, when a mother thinks it 



TURKISH DANCING GIRL. 



52 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



time her son had a wife, she sets out to find one for him. She 
starts on a tour of visits to her friends, and to any family where 
there are daughters old enough to marry. When a girl pleases 
her taste, she sits down with her mother for a business talk. 

Fancy it, you young people, the two mothers arranging affairs ! 
The girl's mother asks questions about the boy, and the boy's 
mother tells how much he will give his bride as dowry. If 
these matters are settled, the girl receives from the boy a gift of 
a piece of red silk, and some sugar-plums. When the mother 
returns she sends the boy a love token. A queer love token, 
indeed ! one of the sugar-plums of which she has bitten off 
half! 

The boy gives his bride her dowry, but the girl brings a 
trousseau equal to another dowry. Not only does this consist 
of clothes, as with us, but household furnishings, such as sets 
of bedding, furniture for two rooms, and kitchen utensils, cur- 
tains, carpets, and rugs. 

A set of bedding is two mattresses, two quilted coverlets, and 
three bolsters ; and a bride sometimes has as many as fifty 
sets ; the kitchen articles are of copper, and very numerous ; 
and the furniture, which you wouldn't think could be very much 
in such bare rooms, is divan covering of rich stuff embroidered 
with gold. 

Besides this must be a handsome brasier, generally of brass, 
to hold the fire, and the house linen. 

Then comes the child's wardrobe, which in Turkey is very 
costly. The wedding dress alone must cost not less than three 
or four hundred dollars (of course I am speaking of well-to-do 
families), and often reaches the sum of thousands of dollars, 
since it is embroidered with gold and pearls. 



THE WEDDING TAKES A WEEK. 



55 



Then, of course, there are other dresses, several fur jackets, 
costly shawls, jewelry, and a thousand other things. 

Dear me! Shall I try to tell you about the wedding? It 
lasts a whole week, and those two poor children must feel them- 
selves thoroughly married when it is over. 

The ceremonies begin on Monday with a procession from 
the bride's house to the bridegroom's, carrying her trous- 
seau. 

Should you like to see the bride in her grand array? Re- 
member she is not more than eleven or twelve years old. In 
some parts of Turkey her face is a mask of gold-dust and gum 
(to keep it on), with spangles here and there, on the cheeks and 
forehead, and chin. Her eyebrows are thickly painted to meet, 
and her teeth are made black. 

What a figure ! poor child ! 

The whole of Monday is spent by the guests arranging her 
goods in a grand display. Clothes are hung around her room 
on lines stretched from side to side ; jewels are kept under glass 
cases, and an arbor is made of artificial flowers, in which the 
bride is kept on exhibition. 

Then the obliging guests go to the hall and arrange the rest 
of her property where it will make the greatest possible show ; 
piles of bedding of silk, cotton and embroidery, and dozens of 
bright brass kettles and things. 

This occupies all Monday night, and on Tuesday the bride is 
taken with great ceremony to the public bath, where she has 
to go three times around a certain platform, kiss everybody's 
hand, and be dressed in borrowed clothes. 

On Wednesday the bride stays at home (her father's house), 
and receives the visits of the bridegroom's lady friends. Great 



54 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



ceremonies attend this, as everything else. Entertainments are 
provided, musicians, dancers, and other performers. 

A curious thing happens when the guests are about to go. The 
bride is led to the door of the house, and every guest throws small 
gold coins over her head. Knowing that this will be done, 
a crowd of beggars and street boys are ready, and the scamble 
that takes place for the money is, to our notions, disgusting. 

The only pretty part of the whole week's ceremonies takes 
place on this evening, when the entertainment is for the young 
girl friends of the little bride. Each girl takes a lighted taper 
and they form a procession with the bride leading, and wind 
about the garden, among the flower-beds, and through the trees. 
All are gay with bright-colored dresses, and adorned with 
jewels, with hair hanging over their shoulders, and as they go 
songs are sung and other music performed. It looks, to western 
barbarians, like a scene from fairy land, or a chapter out of the 
Arabian Nights. 

But the night goes on and another curious thing takes place. 
You think the people must be sleepy by this time? Well — 
that may be so ; but the wedding takes not only the days but 
the nights of a week. 

This ceremony takes place toward morning, and is the appli- 
cation of the henna, w T hich stains the ends of the fingers and 
toes a bright pink color, and is thought by a Turkish damsel to 
be very lovely. 

The stuff is made ready, and the bride takes off her wedding 
finery. She then comes into the. room shading her eyes with 
her left arm, and seats herself in the middle of the floor. Next 
she holds out her right hand, and some one covers it with a rich 
bath scarf. 



GOLD PIECES IN PLENTY.' 



55 



Some one else plasters the scarf thickly with the henna mix- 
ture, and there the poor thing sits like a statue. Presently her 
future mother-in-law sticks a gold piece on to the scarf, where 
the henna holds it tight ; after her come one at a time, each 
girl and woman belonging to the bridegroom's side of the 
house, and each one leaves a gold piece sticking there. I 
should think she must feel like a beggar. 

But that's only half. The richly-covered right hand is now 
slipped into a silk bag, to be out of sight, and the bride changes 
her position. She shades her modest eyes with the right arm, 
and holds out her left hand. Now is the turn of her own mother 
and her friends. The same thing is done over by her side of 
the house. 

The night is ended by staining the fingers and toes, and a 
last dance. 

On Thursday the Turkish papa gives his daughter his part- 
ing advice and his blessing, while he puts around her waist 
the bridal girdle, and she goes to the house of her husband. 

Here two days more 'are given to ceremonies too tedious to 
tell. They are mostly entertainments, feasting, drinking sherbet, 
smoking, music, and dancing. 

Do you think I ought to tell about the bridal presents? 
Well, I simply can't, they're too many. Everybody gives, and 
everybody receives ; and that's all I can say about it. Let us 
leave the poor little bride to settle into her new home, where 
her husband may already have a wife or two before her, for the 
religion of the Turks allows them four wives. 

I told you how strange the outside of a Turkish house looks ; 
how they are exactly opposite to ours, having the windows, 
and the balconies, the trees and fountains all inside, and 



56 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



only the back part of the house with its blank walls turned to 
the street. 

The streets themselves, of course, are very different from ours 
too. They are narrow and dirty, and really only a way to get 
about in. 

Besides their dismal looks, they are infested by half-wild dogs, 
which are always under foot, and always ready to snap at 
one. 

I think you wanted to know, or I fancied you did, how 
the houses are warmed. Like the dinner-table, the stove is 
brought in when wanted, and is only a brasier with burning 
charcoal. Of course that does not go far toward warming their 
big rooms, and there is another funny contrivance used, though 
it is going out of fashion somewhat. It is called a tandoor, 
and is simply a frame covered with a wadded quilt which hangs 
down to the floor all around. The brasier is put under this, 
and every one who wishes, crawls under the quilt, having his 
head out, of course. 

It's a comical sight to see a family enjoying the warmth of 
this queer stove when quite cold, a row of heads coming out 
from under a quilt; they look as if they had all gone to bed in 
a social way. 

But sometimes it is not so funny, when one sets the clothes 
afire, as happens occasionally, or gets the head under the quilt, 
when the charcoal fumes soon put an end to life. 

There's one thing at least, that is very pleasant among the 
Turks, and that is their kindness to animals. They have many 
of them as pets, birds, and lambs with spots of bright-colored 
dye here and there on their white coat, to make them more 
attractive. Then, also, they tame the various wild animals of 



A QUEER STOVE. 57 

the country, and in some parts of the country they have the 
Angora cat. 




Have you ever seen this beautiful creature, the loveliest of 
cats? It has long, shaggy fur like that of some dogs, as soft as 
swan's down, and a fine bushy tail. 



58 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



If you've ever heard anything about Constantinople, the 
most beautiful city in the world (at a little distance), you have 
heard of the half-wild dogs that infest the streets. A few dogs 
would be useful, for the Turks need active scavengers in their 
streets, but there are so many that they have become a nuisance. 
They are under foot by day, and they make night hideous by 
barks and howls. 

But they can't be thinned out by killing, because Turks dis- 
like to take life of animals, and I read of a curious plan by 
which a few hundreds of them were carried off. A ship was 
hired, and by coaxing with food it was filled with dogs, several 
hundreds of them. The ship then set sail, went to a barren 
island at some distance, and by more food and coaxing, per- 
suaded the dogs to go ashore. 

When the last dog had landed, the ship quietly sailed off and 
left them to starve, or eat each other as they chose. That 
may have looked less cruel than shooting or drowning them to 
a Turk, but in our eyes it was a brutal act." 

Before we leave the little Turk, let me show you how he 
looks when grown up, and become a soldier. 

Is he not fierce with his terrible sword and tall hat ? 



SOLDIER OF TURKEY 



6o 



LITTLE PEOPLE OE ASIA. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE OILED BABY; THE LITTLE SYRIAN. 

There's another abused baby in the land of the Turks, but 
it is not a Turkish baby, it is a Syrian. This poor little wretch 
is oiled ! 

A Syrian nurse thinks she knows more than old mother Na- 
ture herself, and she fancies that a baby is not ready to begin 
life in this world till she has had a finger in the business. 

So she proceeds to finish the job by sticking her finger down 
its throat to clear the passage ; then cracking all the joints to 
see that none have been left out (I suppose) ; and then moving 
all its poor little limbs around in a sort of gymnastic style, to 
convince herself that they are in working order. 

After all this she goes on with the performance by washing it 
in strong brine, and then covering its tender body with a mix- 
ture of oil and basil, especially over the joints, so that they may 
never be sore ; and at last the baby is wrapped up and allowed 
to rest. 

That is, it may rest for awhile, but it must be oiled and pow- 
dered daily for many days, sometimes even for a month ; and 
its wrapping up is something like the Turkish baby's. One 
long strip of muslin three or four inches wide, and ten feet long, 
is tightly wound around it from the neck to the heels, holding 
the restless little arms close to the sides. 



BABY AND BRACELETS. 



62 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



What for? Oh, because that stupid Syrian nurse thinks baby's 
bones are too soft to keep in place ; or perhaps a little for the 
reason that it is easier to carry around a bundle, than a baby. 
She slings it over her back, or carries it like a stick on her arm. 

It isn't much better off when in the cradle ; for, like the Turk- 
ish baby, it is rocked all day and all night. 

In some parts of the country baby is carried in a little ham- 
mock, made of some gay, striped cloth, and swinging over its 
mother's back ; two little brown feet sticking out one side, and 
a little brown face, with a cap ornamented with coins, at the 
other. She can hang the tiny hammock over her forehead, and 
then she rocks the restless little fellow by swaying herself back 
and forth, and when he goes to sleep she can hang the ham- 
mock, baby and all, on a door-knob, or any other convenient 
place. 

Here's one little man, on page 61, whose mamma has taken 
him out of his hammock, and who is enjoying something nice to 
eat that looks very much like a stick of American candy. This 
baby's mother is a bracelet seller, and sits on the ground wait- 
ing for customers with her bracelets before her, tied up in bunches 
like curtain-rings. See her necklace and herheavy ear-rings hang- 
ing down to her shoulders. She doesn't look much like our shop 
girls, does she? 

But if you think she is ornamented, look at another woman 
of Syria. She has not only ear-rings and necklace, but heavy 
breast ornaments, bracelets, and armlets above her elbow. It is 
very likely that she carries her whole fortune about with her 
in jewelry. 

But to go back to the little folk; there are great doings in 
the house, if the baby is a boy. (The way the Syrians receive a 




JEWELRY. 



6 4 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



girl baby I will tell you by and by.) Presents are sent in, and 
everybody calls to congratulate the family. 

But the great event of the occasion is the preparation of a 
dainty dish made of pounded rice, spiced and sugared, and cov- 
ered with nuts. Little bowls of this delicacy are sent around to 
all the relations. It is called mughly. 

The Syrians believe as firmly as the Turks in the " evil eye ; " 
so, of course, many precautions are taken to preserve the baby 
from it, which you will not care specially to hear. 

You will be more interested in the songs they hear. Here is 
one to which the baby Syrian is taught to play " Pat-a-cake." 
Mr. Jessup gives it in English. 

" Pat-a-cake, baby ! make him dance ! 
May his age increase, and his year advance ! 
May his life, like the rock, long years endure, 
O'ergrown with lilies, so sweet and pure." 

And here's another, much like one of ours : 

" Blacksmith, blacksmith, shoe the mare, 
Shoe the colt with greatest care ; 
Hold the shoe and drive the nail, 
Else your labor all will fail : 
Shoe a donkey for Seleem, 
And a colt for Ibraheem." 

Now about the girl babies. When one is born no festivities 
are indulged in. There are no presents, and no dainties. The 
mother weeps, and the friends condole. 

Why ? One reason is, that a girl grows up and has to be 
married at some expense, thus taking property out of her 



WHY THE GIRL IS NOT WELCOME. 



65 



father's house ; while a boy brings a wife home, which adds to 
the family dignity. Another reason is, that a son will support 
his mother and the family, if the father dies. That is a stronger 
reason in Syria than it is in our country, for widows and young 
children are cruelly treated, and often brought to poverty. 

Besides these, no woman, not even the mother, can rejoice 
in the birth of a girl, in a country where girls and women are 
abused, beaten, and brutally treated, and where no life is possi- 
ble to them but one of drudgery and hard work. 

No wonder the wretched mother weeps, and consents to have 
her girl baby put out of its misery. 

But she does sing lullabies to her, if the child lives. Here is 
one, from Mr. Jessup again : 

" Come, Cameleer, as quick as you can, 
And make us soap from the green shenan, 

To bathe our Lulu dear ; 
We'll wash her and dress her, 
And then we'll caress her — 
She'll sleep in her little sereer." 

The sereer is the cradle. 

There are many nursery songs, not all so nice as these, for 
Syrian mothers have a terrible fashion of calling down curses 
and misfortunes on every one who does not love the baby. 

After hearing that, you'll not be surprised to learn that the 
children themselves use very bad language. When angry with 
another, a boy thinks nothing of calling down the most dread- 
ful of evils on his playmate; and as for telling the truth, it is 
said to be impossible for a Syrian, big or little. 

But there are pleasanter things to talk about in Syrian child- 



66 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



hood. For instance, the plays ; you'll be surprised to hear that 
those far-off youngsters play many of your games. Leap frog 
is one, and they call it " Owal howa." Baseball is another, and 
marbles, and Blind man's buff. Puss-in-the-corner, too, and But- 
ton, button, which they call " Pebble, pebble," and play with 
a small stone. 

Then they have more playthings than the young Turk ; some 
of terra cotta, such as horses, or donkeys with pack saddles, 
comical figures, and dolls, with arms and legs moved by strings. 

Toy carts they have, also, and sugar birds and animals, which, 
like some other little people I have heard of, they make haste 
to eat up. 

Then they are fond of singing as they play. They have a 
regular swinging song with a chorus, that their fathers and 
grandfathers sang before them. Not only the children sing ; 
peddlers, and street people, all sing their wares. A man selling 
cakes and baked eggs, cries, in a sing-song tone : 

" Ya karim ya Allah ! " (O bountiful God) while he balances 
his big wooden tray on his head, and looks out for customers. 
And a tea peddler, with tea urn of boiling water, glasses, sugar 
and spoons, sings as he goes : 

" Chai chai kiena cha-ee ! " 

Both these peddlers belong in Jerusalem, which, you know, 
is in Syria. All over the country the people sing-song their 
stories and their reading, and keep time by swaying their bodies 
back and forth. 

That reminds me of their school, which you would laugh to 
see, and I'm sure a Syrian boy would stare at your schoolroom, 
with its benches and desks, maps and blackboards. His school 
is a bare room, where forty or fifty boys, leaving their shoes in 



A CRAZY SORT OF SCHOOL. 



67 



a pile outside the door, go in, and squat down on the floor, 
each one holding his book, or tin card, with a lesson on it. 

School begins! and what do you see? Every boy begins to 
study at the top of his voice, swaying back and forth, like a 
Chinese mandarin in the toy shops. When one goes up to the 
teacher to recite, he has to scream louder than the rest, to be 
heard at all. 

Why, it's enough to make one crazy just to think of it, away 
off here in America, with a good broad ocean between us ! 

The teacher of this mad-house sort of a school has a long 
stick, with which he keeps the boys up to their work; and if one 
is unruly, he gets something more than an " error ; " he is thrown 
on the floor, his ankles tied together, and he is beaten on the 
soles of his feet. This is no joke, I assure you. 

If he is a very bad boy, there is a worse punishment for him. 
A chain is put around his waist, and some one walks behind him 
with a whip, driving him through the streets, and, worse still, 
making him kiss the hand of every man, woman, and child that 
he meets. If they wish to be very severe, they will stop where 
people are at work, and call out masons or other workmen, and 
make him kiss their hands. 

You wonder what they learn at this queer school. They learn 
to read, and to recite prayers and other forms belonging to their 
religion, the Mohammedan. They learn to write — what ! with- 
out desks? — Yes, indeed; they are quite superior to the need of 
desks. Each boy carries in his belt an ink case, and his paper 
he holds in his hand. 

Here's a picture of a Syrian school, all out having their photo- 
graph taken, with the master and his stick to keep them quiet. 

When school is dismissed, comes a grand scramble for shoes, 




which are left outside the door, you remember. The first boy 
kicks over the pile to find his, and then comes a scene like one 
you may have seen,' when forty or fifty American boys want the 
same thing at the same moment (a football, for instance). If a 
boy gets hurt, and one generally does, he cries out : 



RED SHOES. 



69 



" Ya imme ! ya imme ! " which means, " O, my mother ! " 
He's a droll-looking youngster, this boy of Syria. Ke wears 




WATER CARRIER. 



red shoes, or slippers, with toes pointed and turned up, or yel- 
low ones of the same style. When it happens to be wet or 
muddy, and he does not want to soil these gay colors, he mounts 



7o 



LITTLE PEOPLE OP ASIA. 



a pair of what he calls kob-kobs, but we should call little stilts. 
They are only a few inches high, and are fastened to a wooden 
sole, with a strap to slip over the toes ; but they often slip, or 
turn, and then down comes the youth on his nose, and his kob- 
kobs go rattling over the stones, while he sets up a howl, ex- 
actly like a little far-western boy. 

His clothes are as queer as his shoes. If he belongs to 
the common people, like those little water-carriers, he wears 
a blue bag, with two holes in the bottom for his legs to go 
through, which you might call trousers, a loose jacket, and a 
red cap. That is about all. His legs come through the bag 
nearly up to the knees ; but he has no stockings, and often no 
shoes. 

If his father is wealthy, he will dress exactly like the old gen- 
tleman, with white turban, and clothes of rich stuff and gay 
colors, not to mention jewels and ornaments, of which the peo 
pie are very fond. 

The Syrian girl is a copy of her mother, likewise, in silks and 
satins, embroidered and decorated, and above all, a veil ! Here 
you see her on page 72. Even the girls of the very poor have 
a bit of common white muslin for this purpose, while the dress 
they wear is of coarse blue cotton cloth. 

She wears her hair in braids, too, several of them hanging 
down her back ; when she is grown up she will have many more 
braids, sometimes as many as twenty-five, and with every strand 
of every braid will be braided a black cord, to which are fast- 
ened little gold coins. This will hang down the back, sometimes 
to the knees, and it is, of course, very gorgeous. It will do very 
well for a lady who never goes into the street unless wrapped 
up like a mummy, or in the night, with a crowd of attendants 




GROWN-UP GIRLS. 



7 2 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



about her, to keep off the gaze of the vulgar ; but wouldn't it 
be funny in New York ? and wouldn't she draw a crowd ! 

Their names 

' ' \ " " ~ ' : - ^ s are odd, too. 

\V"^ What would 

, "." you think of 

" Stuffed Cab- 
bage " for a 
girl's name ? 
or " Hotel," 
or " C i v i 1 
War?" They 
are named 
after any- 
thing that 
happens to 
interest the 
parents at the 
time ; and if 
a child gets 
sick, its name 
is changed. 
They think 
the name did 
not agree 
with it. 

On page 71 
are three of 

the grown-up girls. You cannot see the hair at the back, but 
you can see the strings of- coins in front, and the veils. 





Their houses are different from ours ; the wealthy build like 
the Turks, dead walls outside, and a beautiful court inside. 
Here is a picture of a part of a court, with its pond, or tank 
of water, and trees beyond. But the pleasantest part of the 



74 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



Syrian house, when the weather is warm, as it is most of the 
time, is the roof. 

Oh, what sport ! I know you're wishing your mother would 
let you go on the roof, that most delightful spot on the place, 
to a boy. 

But Syrian roofs are made to go on, and that's the difference. 
They are flat as any floor, and have generally a railing, or rather 
battlement around, so they are perfectly safe, and rather tame 
after all, you see. There the family sit in warm weather, and 
there they often sleep. Look at the little Syrian child's house 
with its flat roofs. 

But I must tell you about the houses of the common people, 
the ordinary village house. It is probably made of stones piled 
together, but without mortar to hold them firm. For a roof 
logs are laid across and covered with earth a foot thick. And 
that is not the worst; it is often on a side hill, and sheep, and 
cattle, and donkeys walk right on to it and" run about, and 
shake down the dirt on to the people below. 

To be sure the people don't care, they don't trouble them- 
selves for so small a thing as dirt ! 

Inside, the house is as curious as it is outside. To begin 
with, it is hardly high enough to stand up in. " If a man 
wants to stand up he can go out doors," the people say. At 
one end of the one room the floor is a little higher than the 
rest, with a trough around that part. That's the last thing you'd 
look for, inside a house, isn't it ? 

On the higher part the people live, and on the lower part the 
animals ; cattle, sheep and calves, under the same roof with 
their masters, and they eat out of the trough. 

The family mansion, or rather end of the mansion, is luxuri- 




FLAT ROOFS. 



;6 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



ously furnished with mats to sleep on, a tray to eat from, and a 
few wooden plates and spoons. Of chairs they have no need, 
for there is the floor to sit on ; tables would be too high, and as 
for bedsteads, they probably never heard of such a thing. 

When this interesting family takes dinner, a tray is placed on 
a mat on the floor, and all sit around it. The dinner will be 
perhaps a camel stew, or a pottage, with olives and rice, or 
cooked figs, and it is set upon the tray, and every one helps 
himself, with fingers, of course, out of one dish. 

For a lamp in the evening, this mansion is furnished with a 
saucer of oil, having a piece of wick lying over one edge. 

When the mistress of the house makes bread, she heats her 
oven. This is not part of a stove or range, neither of these 
things does she use, it is simply a hole in the ground lined with 
plaster. She heats it by making a fire in it, and then sits down 
on the floor beside it to make, and bake, the bread. Her bread- 
pan is a flat stone, and on it she beats out her dough till it is 
flat as a pancake, and as large as a dinner-plate. This object 
she sticks on to the smooth side of the oven. It cooks quickly 
and curls up, but before it falls she takes it off, and puts an- 
other in its place. 

I did not tell you all about the shoes these people wear. 
They are regarded as very unclean (as, indeed, they often are, 
especially boys' shoes), and they dislike very much to speak of 
them, considering it very impolite. If one is obliged to men- 
tion shoes, he will make an apology for alluding to so vile a 
subject. The reason they are left at the door, as they always 
are, is that everybody sits on the floor, as you see this woman 
with cushions and pipe, and houses are spread with clean mats 
for that purpose. 



SMOKING. 



73 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



But you haven't heard all about the children. They are man- 
aged when young, in the same silly way that nurses in our own 

country some- 
times try, by 
frig hten- 
ingthem, or at 
least making 
use of threats. 

They tell 
them that the 
"Bahoo" is 
coming after 
them, to eat 
them up, or 
the "Beda- 
win " to catch 
them. And 
when you see 
what rag-bag 
looking fel- 
lows even 
the common 
peasants are — 
as you see in 
the picture — 
you can't won- 
der that they 
are afraid of a 




MOHAMMEDAN GIRL. 



terrible Bedawin, who is supposed to be much more dreadful. 
Then, too, the doctor, often the best friend the poor crea- 



PEASANTS. 



8(3 LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 

tures have, is held up as a terror, as he sometimes is in our 
country, by mothers who ought to know better. " If you don't 
be good the doctor'll come ! " is a potent threat to the little 
Syrian. 

The " manners " taught to the little man are somewhat differ- 
ent from any you are used to. First, he must always take off 
his shoes, and secondly he must always keep on his cap ! When 
he enters a room with older people he must go around and kiss 
their hands, and place each one on his forehead. 

I'm sorry to tell you a dreadful thing about them, that be- 
sides being extremely untruthful, they are exceedingly profane ; 
and they smoke almost before they can walk, both boys and 
girls ! See this little woman on page 78 with her pipe. 

If one gets very angry at another he " calls names," as chil- 
dren do nearer home; but what is funny (to us)- is, that he does 
not heap abuse on his enemy, but on his enemy's father, and 
grandfather, and great-grandfather, and great-great-grandfather, 
and the farther back in the history of the family he can go, the 
more insulting is he considered. Mr. Jessup, in his book about 
Syria, tells a story that would be laughable, if it were not so 
dreadful, of one boy hiding around the corner of his house 
to avoid the stones of an enemy, and shouting " and your 
great-great-great-great-grandfather!" and the other retorting as 
he ran, " and your great-great-great-great-great-grandfather ! " 
always adding one generation more. 

The Syrian girl, like her Turkish sister, is married very young, 
often before she is ten years old, and a week is spent in the 
ceremonies. She takes her dolls with her bridal outfit, and plays 
with them in her husband's house. Among other queer customs 
of that time in her life a bride is obliged to wear pattens, or a 



82 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



sort of clogs, at least a foot high, on which she walks about the 
court-yard. 

Another thing ; the unfortunate little Syrian bride, remem- 
ber she may be only ten years old! is not allowed to speak 
above a whisper till the " honeymoon " is past ; still worse, she 
must go about with a handkerchief tied over her mouth till her 
mother-in-law takes pity on her, and tells her to take it off. To 
tell the plain truth, a Syrian bride is simply another slave to 
her husband's mother, and in any case is a hopeless drudge. 
She brings the water and carries the burdens, she grinds the 
corn in the hand-mill, and sometimes is yoked with cattle to 
drag the plow. She is beaten and abused, and insulted in every 
way. In fact, the life of a girl or woman in Syria has nothing 
to make it in the least desirable. Can we wonder that a mother 
sheds tears over her baby girl, or that she wishes her dead ? 

One rather curious duty of Syrian girls and young women is 
to fatten a sheep to be eaten. It is bought in summer, when pas- 
tures are burned by the sun, and sheep are very cheap. The 
animal is tied to a stake, and the girl sits down by it with a 
pile of balls, made of leaves and grass. She takes the head of 
the sheep under her arm and forces it to eat as much as it can 
possibly get down. It often gets so fat it can hardly stand, and 
at the end of four months is ready to be turned into fat mutton, 
and packed away in jars for use. 

Some of the shops where little people go in Syria, would 
look very odd to you. For instance, a lantern shop. See what 
strange shapes the lanterns have, and what a roof ! There's one 
thing in the picture that looks natural, and that is the little 
boy teazing a bird. I don't suppose a boy would be a boy 
unless he liked to worry something. Whether he wears a tar- 



LANTERN SHOP. 



84 LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 

boosh, like this one, or a fur mask like the little Siberian ; whether 
he's wrapped in a dressing-gown, or goes without clothes alto- 




MOTHER AND SON. 



gether ; whether he is white, black, red, or yellow, all the same 
he likes to teaze — doesn't he, boys ? 




DEALER IN PEARLS. 



86 LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



Then there is the merchant of pearls, where the girls delight 
to go. See the strings upon strings of beads, and the shop- 




GIRLS DRAWING WATER- 



keeper, who turns his face away so that we shall not see it, 
and the woman in front, wrapped in her veil. 



ONE OF THE SIGHTS. 87 

Besides the shops there are many sorts of peddlers, such as 
one who sells rosaries about the church. Here you see him 




ROSARY SELLER. 



with his goods spread out temptingly on the floor before him. 
One of the sights for the children in Syria is the caravan of 



88 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF A SLA. 



pilgrims to the Jordan. Some of the arrangements for making an 
easy journey are very funny. Mr. Warner, who wrote a book 
about this part of the world, tells about one that he saw. One 
woman rode in a sort of cupboard carried between two mules ; 
some had chairs strapped on to the back of a horse, and others 
had great baskets or panniers slung each side of an unfortu- 
nate horse, in which a whole family could ride ; a basket full 
of babies looked very pretty, though somewhat crowded. But 
the funniest looked like a sofa fastened across the horse's back, 
and four persons in a row, all facing the way they were riding, 
not lengthwise of the horse. It turned out to be not a sofa, 
but four baskets in a frame. 

There's hardly a country in Asia where one may see so many 
different sorts of people, and so many different kinds of dress 
as in Syria. Here are girls who dress like boys, as these young 
Arab maidens, though to be sure, they are doing the work of 
girls, drawing water, See the queer, old-fashioned way in 
which they draw it, by letting down the jar by means of a 
rope. When the jars are full each girl will take one on her 
head, and walk off to her village without spilling a drop. 

And then there are boys whose dress looks more like a girl's, 
as you see in the picture of the boy who has gone with his 
mother to mourn, on page 84. 

There is also the great man, of whom the children are 
afraid, with his turban and full Turkish trowsers, who has 
power in the world, and looks fierce enough to bite the poor 
peasant standing like a beggar before him. 

Then there are gypsies here as well as nearly everywhere else, 
and the girls often make a profession of dancing. Their dances 
are very unlike ours. One that I read of was performed by 




POOR AND RICH. 



gO LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 

two girls, and it consisted simply in whirling around each other, 
at first slowly, then getting faster and faster, till their long black 
hair stood out straight, and you couldn't tell one from the 
other ; then suddenly the music stopped short, and the dancers 
fell to the floor exhausted. Here is a picture of a gypsy dancer 
with her tambourine. 

The Syrians, big as well as little, are fond of dancers ; on page 
93 is another sort, with the musicians who play for it, covered 
with jewelry, and sitting on the floor like everybody in Syria. 

These people are great story-lovers, and, as in Turkey, there 
are grown-up men who make a regular business of telling stories 
and singing, and playing some instrument. They go about to 
private houses, and to public cafes, where they are always well 
treated, and sure of listeners, old and young, and they get pay 
for their labor by what we call " taking up a collection." They 
are generally smart enough to stop in the most interesting 
place to get their money, and sometimes one will coolly walk 
off, and leave his story unfinished till the next day. That's 
something like our stories ''continued in our next." 

I will tell you a Syrian story, which Mr. Jessup has put into 
English for us. 

It is about a flea, and before I begin I must tell you that this 
creature in Syria is by no means the insignificant object he is 
with us, confining his attentions to untidy dogs and cats. 

He is, one may say, King of Syria. He actually drives the 
people out of their own houses, and they often desert a whole 
village, putting up some sort of a rude shelter in the fields for 
themselves, and leaving their proper homes to the little tor- 
ments. 

Now hear the story ; I quote from Mr. Jessup's book, it is called 




GYPSY DANCING GIRL. 



92 little people of asia. 

The Noble Flea. 

"A BRILLIANT bug and a noble flea once went to the oven 
to shake off the ignoble fleas from their garments into the fire. 
But alas, alas, the noble flea lost his footing, fell into the fire 
and was consumed. Then the brilliant bug began to weep and 
mourn, saying : 

" ' Alas ! ah me ! the noble Flea ! ' 

" While he was thus weeping, and his sad watch keeping, a 
glossy raven overhead flew swiftly down and gently said : 1 O 
my friend ! O brilliant bug ! Why are you weeping on the rug?' 
The bug replied : 4 O glossy raven, with your head all shorn 
and shaven, I am now weeping, and sad watch keeping.' 

"'Over, ah me! the noble Flea!' 

"The raven he, wept over the flea, and flew to a green palm 
tree, and in grief dropped a feather, like snow in wintry weather. 

" The palm tree said, ' My glossy raven, why do you look so 
craven ; why did you drop a feather, like snow in wintry weather? ' 
The raven said, ' The flea is dead ! I saw the brilliant bug weep- 
ing, and his sad watch keeping.' 

"'Alas, alas! ah me ! Over the noble Flea! 

" Then the green palm tree, wept over the noble Flea. Said 
he, ' The flea is dead ! and all his branches shed.' 

" The shaggy wolf he strayed, to rest in the palm tree's shade. 
He saw the branches broken, of deepest grief the token, and 
said, ' O palm tree green, what sorrow have you seen ? What 
noble one is dead, that you your branches shed?' He said: 'O 
wolf so shaggy, living in rocks so craggy, I saw the glossy raven, 
looking forlorn and craven, dropping down a feather, like snow 
in wintry weather. He saw the brilliant bug weeping, and his 
sad watch keeping.' 



DANCER AND MUSICIANS. 



94 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



" ' Alas, alas, ah me ! Over the noble Flea ! ' 

" Then the wolf, in despair, shed his shaggy hair. 

" Then the river clear and shining, saw the wolf in sorrow pin- 
ing, asked him why, in sad despair, he had shed his shaggy 
hair? Said the wolf, ' O river shining, I in sorrow deep am pin- 
ing, for the palm tree I have seen, shedding all his branches 
green ; ' and he saw the glossy raven, looking so forlorn and 
craven, as he dropped a downy feather, like the snow in wintry 
weather. He saw the brilliant bug weeping, and his sad watch 
keeping. 

" ' Alas, alas, ah me ! Over the noble Flea.' 

" Sadly then, the shining river, dried its waters up forever. 

" Then the shepherd with his sheep, asked the river, once so 
deep, ' What great grief, O shining river, dried your waters up 
forever?' Said the river, once so shining, * I in sorrow deep 
am pining, since I saw the wolf's despair, when he shed his 
shaggy hair, for the palm tree he had seen, shedding all his 
branches green ; and he saw the glossy raven, looking so for- 
lorn and craven, as he dropped a downy feather, like the snow 
in wintry weather. He saw the^ brilliant bug weeping, and his 
sad watch keeping, 

" ' Alas, alas, ah me ! Over the noble Flea.' 

" Then the shepherd, in sorrow deep, tore the horns from all 
his sheep, sadly bound them on his head, since he heard the 
flea was dead. 

" Then the shepherd's mother dear, asked him why, in desert 
drear, he had torn, in sorrow deep, all the horns from off his 
sheep, sadly bound them on his head, just as though a friend 
was dead ? Said he, ' 'Tis because the river dried his waters up 
forever, since he saw the wolf's despair, when he shed his shaggy 



TROUBLE IN THE FAMILY. 



95 



hair, for the palm tree he had seen, shedding all his branches 
green ; for he saw the glossy raven, looking so forlorn and 
craven, as he dropped a downy feather, like the snow in wintry 
weather. He 
saw the bril- 
1 i a n t bug 
w r eeping, and 
his sad watch 
keeping, 

" 'Alas, alas, 
ah me ! Over 
the noble 
Flea ! ' 

"Mother 
sad began to 
cry, thrust her 
7ieedlc in her 
eye ; could no 
longer see the 
thread, since 
she heard the 
flea was dead. 
Then the 
father, grave 
and bland, 
hearing this, 
cut off his 
hand ; and the 
daughter, 

when she hears, in despair cuts off her ears. 




STORY TELLER AND MUSICIAN. 



And through 



9 6 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF A SLA. 



the town deep grief is spread, because they heard the flea was 
dead ! " 

Isn't that a funny story? Well, here's a picture of the teller. 
Some of their nursery stories, or rather, their children's stories, 
for they have no nurseries, are very much like ours. One in 
particular, is almost exactly like our story of the kids and the 
wolf. 

You remember, of course, that the kids' mother left them 
alone at home, telling them to be sure and not open the door, 
except to her. The wolf, who was hungry, and very fond of 
kid for breakfast, came to the house, and after some time, by 
help of his wolfish cunning, made the three little innocents 
inside think he was their mamma, and open the door. 

Of course you have not forgotten the catastrophe that took 
place, nor the speedy punishment of the monster. He swal- 
lowed the kids, and then being too full to get away, was obliged 
to stay till the mother got home, when she at once tore him 
open with her horns, and out leaped the three kids, as lively 
and frisky as ever. 

The Syrian story is like this, as to events, but of course a wolf 
is not dreadful enough for their taste, and the thief in the story 
is a ghoul, whatever that may be. 

Before we have done with Syria, I will show you a real 
Syrian village, set down in the hot sun. Doesn't it look like a 
toy village made of cardboard boxes? 




VILLAGE. 



9 8 



t 

LITTLE PEOPLE OE ASIA. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE BUNDLED-UP BABY ; THE LITTLE PERSIAN. 

NEXT door (on the map) to the little Turks, live the children 
of Persia, who begin their lives by hearing the profession of 
faith of their parents. We should think them rather young to 
be taught religion, but in the opinion of a Persian one can't 
begin too soon, so the baby's first sensation is the sound of the 
creed spoken in his ear. This makes him a member of the 
ranks of Mohammedans, and ready to begin life properly, in the 
opinion of his friends. 

That is, after he is bundled-up ; for this little fellow is an- 
other of the bandaged babies of Asia. From neck to heels. is 
wound a long strip of cloth, that holds' him still and makes him 
look like a log with a head on. Charms are then hung on him, 
or sewed to his clothes, to keep him from the evil eye ; soon his 
head is shaved, and he is named with great ceremonies. 

One ceremony is. very curious. The father has a sheep 
killed, and its flesh made into broth, which his friends and 
neighbors are invited to eat. The bones, however, are carefully 
saved, and buried by the side of some stream of water. 

The names are different from ours; they have no family name, 
but they often have a string of pre-names, and others, in a queer 
manner. For instance, suppose a man by the name of John, 
had a son James, and a father George. He might call himself 



ON HORSEBACK. 



IOO 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



" Father-of-James John son-of-George," and if he liked he could 
even make it longer by adding the place he was born, or the 
tribe to which he belonged. 

School begins very young for the little Persian, for he has a 
good deal to learn and must finish by the time he is eighteen 
years old. 

Like all the schools in Asia, this is very different from yours. 
The scholars sit around the teacher on the floor, and study 
aloud, swaying back and forth as they shout out the lessons. 

If they're naughty they get a whipping on the soles of their 
feet, bastinado it is called. They learn reading, writing, arith- 
metic, astronomy, and a few other things, besides passages of 
poetry, and prayers from the Koran in Arabic. 

Do they play ? Well — yes ; after a fashion. Their plays are 
a sort of practice for their grown-up days. They play with bow 
and sabre ; they learn to be very expert with the dart, and to 
do anything on horseback. 

If a boy is to be trained for the cavalry service, he practices 
all sort of gymnastics on a horse's back ; to turn around in the 
saddle while going at full speed, and fire a carbine backwards, 
and to throw and catch darts. 

In this picture on page 99 you see some of the performances 
the boys have to learn. 

They have other gymnastics also, in which they dance on their 
hands with their heels in the air, and stand on one hand alone. 

In fact the life of a boy in Persia, is simply learning to be a 
man, and a grave, serious-looking little fellow he is in his queer 
dress, as you see him in this picture, where he leans against the 
wall in his father's court-yard, listening to the talk of his elders. 

His coat, you see, is of the style so common all over Asia, the 




IN A COURT. 



102 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



dressing-gown shape. If he lived up just over the borders, his 
dressing-gown would take a little different style, like this young- 
ster who looks so very wise in his sugar-loaf hat. 




HOW THEY DRESS. 



See what a curious string of dangling ornaments he has 



SHE WOULD PITY YOU. 



I03 



over one shoulder. His mother and sister have beads and 
decorations enough for a wild African. 

To return to Persia. What has the girl been doing all this 
time ? She has been getting ready for her life as well as her 
brother. 

Alas, her life will be spent shut up in a harem, and there's 
not much to learn ; to sew, to embroider, perhaps to read and 
write, and to secure her own way, that is all. 

You don't understand that last item in the education of the 
little Persian? I'm glad you don't; it is only taught to those 
who are under a despotic master, and who have to coax and ca- 
jole him. 

Oh ! the most important (in her eyes), I forgot to speak of, 
it is the great value of the veil ! the terrible impropriety of 
showing her face. 

You pity her? Well, you need not in the least; she would 
pity you. 

" Poor little infidel!" she would say, if she knew about you 
and your ways. " She has to go about among vulgar crowds in 
the street, because she has to work, and has no one to support 
her in elegant idleness as we have ! " 

And if she knew that you eat your dinners at the table with 
your father and brothers, she would pity you still more, that 
you were not rich enough to have a table for yourselves, you 
and your mother. 

As for her, nothing could coax her to do as you little barba- 
rians do. What a good thing it is that we all like our own 
country and our own ways best. 

The little Persian girl dresses like her mamma, in very wide 
trowsers of velvet or silk, and a muslin or silk over-garment, 



io4 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



held in place by a girdle. When it is cold she wears a little 
jacket over this, and shawls. On her feet she has kid slippers 
with soles of ivory or wood. Her hair hangs down behind with 
pearls and jewels, or gold ornaments dangling from the ends. 
Over these, of course, she wears all the jewelry she can get. 

When she goes out, she adds a long cloak and a veil, which 
makes her look as though wrapped in a sheet. 

If she rides, it is in a takht-ir-evan, or a sort of litter carried by 
two mules. In this she can sit up or lie down, and it is very 
elegant, I assure you. 

If she is poorer, and must ride, on a journey, for instance, 
she rides in a basket slung to one side of a mule. Another 
basket at his other side keeps the balance of things, and another 
person rides in that, with feet dangling. 

Sometimes she rides on horseback, when she sits in her fa- 
vorite attitude, like a Turk, on the animal, carrying her baby 
in a sling around her neck. 

One of the Persian girl's greatest pleasures is to go to the 
bath-house, where there are always plenty of other girls and 
their mammas, and they can bathe, and eat sweets, and smoke, 
and tell stories, hours at a time. 

The bathing is funny, one is rubbed and doused with pails of 
water, and soaped, and his joints all cracked, and at last rinsed 
and allowed to plunge into a tank. 

Bathing of this sort, in public bath-houses, is one of the neces- 
sities of life to a Persian. 

How to sit is an important thing for Persian little people to 
know. Before a superior they must sit on their heels, with their 
knees close together. 

Perhaps I didn't tell you that these people, too, sit on the 

m 

I 



THEY SLEEP ON THE FLOOR. 



I05 



floor, or on divans, where they bring their feet up under them, 
as if on the floor. 

Before an equal, the little Persian may sit with legs crossed, 
and his body erect. It is very rude to show the feet when 
seated, they must always be covered with the robe. 

Going to bed isn't much trouble to these little folk. A 
mattress is laid on the floor, a pillow of down and a blanket on 
it, and that is all. If it is warm the bed is on the roof, if cold 
in the house, anywhere. There is no such a thing as a bedroom, 
as we understand it, in the house. Every one sleeps in his 
clothes, rolled in the blanket or quilt. The rich have their 
bedding of velvet or brocade, and the poor of cheaper stuff, 
but all alike sleep on the floor. 

If one goes out in the evening he must carry a lantern, or 
have a servant to do so, and the bigger the lantern the more im- 
portant the personage it lights. They are sometimes a yard high. 

The best houses in Persia, at least on the outside, are for the 
pigeons. On page 106 is one near Ispahan. It looks like a cas- 
tle, you see, but inside it is full of places for nests, and thou- 
sands of pigeons live there. 

You've heard of Persian roses, no doubt, and this is the home 
of the rose. The bushes grow fourteen feet high, and have 
thousands of blossoms. Every house and garden has roses in 
pots, and every room has vases of them. Even the bath is 
strewed with roses, and on great occasions pools are spread with 
the blossoms, cut without stem, and arranged in various designs. 

Other things grow besides roses ; cucumbers six feet long, 
and two feet around, and melons so plenty, that horses are fed 
on them during the season ; and so nice, that they are said to 
be the best in the world. 



I06 LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



I told you, when speaking of little Turks, about the sort of 
stove the Persians have to keep warm by, and there is a picture 




PIGEON HOUSE. 



showing how the Turkish ladies enjoy it. But another curious 
thing in Persia is the bread,. 



i 



io8 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



Bread — to a little Persian — means a big pancake, which comes 
in with dinner, and which he uses for plate and napkin, and 
then eats up. 

His dinner he eats from the floor, without knife or fork; and, 
however elegant may be his home inside, on the outside it looks 
like a hovel of mud. The houses are almost entirely one story 
high, with nothing showing on the street but a wall covered 
with clay, and a low door. 

You don't see why? Well, that's another thing in which the 
Persians are different from us; they are anxious to have the 
world think them poor, and we are anxious to have the world 
think us rich, at least, some of us are, though it is a silly wish. 

Do you want to see a soldier of this country? On page 107 
he is ; a Kurdish soldier in the service of Persia. 

The Persian baby begins life by being made a Mohammedan, 
you remember. Most Persians are of that religion, though they 
were once, long ago, of a different faith, and called by the out- 
side world Fire-worshippers. There are still some of the old 
religion left, and they have what is called a Temple of Fire, as 
in this picture, where the fires never go out, and have not, for 
nobody knows how long. 

Polite manners and elegant conversation are the principal 
things for the little Persian to learn. Literary discussions, and 
stories, told in the grandest sounding words, are the delight of 
the people. They will sit and smoke, and talk, talk, talk, from 
morning till night. 

No matter whether they tell the truth, or keep their promise, 
or stand by a friend, they are always polite. 

Stories they will listen to for hours at a time, and music they 
like when they don't have the trouble of making it. 




TEMPLE OF FIRE. 



ij O LITTLE PEOPLE OF A SLA. 

See their curious musicians, and their still more curious instru- 
ments. 




MUSIC. 



Now I will give you a real Persian story, that the little people 
of this country have listened to with open mouth and eyes, 
many times, no doubt, and believed every word of it. 

It is translated frorri the Arabic, and is called 

The Laborer and the Flying Chair. 
" There was formerly in Bagdad a curly-pated, avaricious fel- 



HE BUYS A CHAIR. 



low, who worked hard under an herb-seller, and by dint of penu- 
riousness became possessed of fifteen golden deenars. He 
labored all day upon half a clove of garlic and a dry crust, then 
retired to his lodging, lighted his lamp, eat the remainder of his 
garlic and crust, placed before him his fifteen deenars, and 
amused himself with counting them over and over till the middle 
of the night, when he buried them under his mat, and laid him- 
self down to sleep. This was his constant custom. 

" One day he said to himself : ' I will walk to the caravan- 
sarie of Khulleel.' It happened to be Monday. He sat down 
in the square, when lo ! a broker passed by, carrying a chair of 
wood, which he cried for sale at seventeen deenars. The la- 
borer offered fourteen ; upon which the broker said : 

" ' Give me earnest, while I consult the owner.' 

He gave him a deenar ; and the broker, after advising, re- 
turned and said : 

" 1 Give me the money.' 

" The laborer paid it down, and took the chair to his lodging, 
prepared his supper, lighted his lamp, examined his chair, and 
sat down upon it, but found no amusement in it compared to 
the counting of his beloved deenars. 

" So the next morning he went to the market where the 
broker was standing. He began to abuse him, and said : 

" ' Tell me the properties of the chair, and in what consists 
its advantage.' 

"The broker, much alarmed, replied: 

" '.I know not the properties, for I am only a broker, but 
come with me to the owner, and ask of him the virtue it con- 
tains ; his was the profit.' 

"The broker went with the laborer to the owner of the chair, 
who was a Jewish magician, to whom the broker said: 



I 12 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



" ' Tell us wherein is the advantage of the chair, or give back 
the money.' 

u The jew replied : 

"'The property of the chair is this: whoever sits in it must 
take a green switch in his hand and strike upon it, commanding 
it to convey him where he chooses ; it will do so in an instant.' 

" The laborer hearing this, said : 

" ' I have been wishing for such a curiosity as this all my 
life,' and ran as fast as he could to his lodging. When night 
fell, he seated himself in his chair, struck it with a green switch, 
as directed, and said : 

" ' Convey me to the terrace of the sultan's palace.' 

" Instantly the chair ascended to the heavens, until he heard 
the angels singing their praises to God in the Milky Way. Then 
it descended gradually until it alighted on the terrace of the 
king's palace. 

" The laborer descended from the terrace into a court, through 
a window of which he saw a light, and the door of the apart- 
ment open. He entered, and beheld the sultan's daughter lying 
upon a sofa like the full moon among the planets. 

" He approached and kissed her hands, upon which, being 
much alarmed, she started up, and saw the laborer, a tall and 
brawny fellow, standing near her with a drawn dagger in his 
hand. With much trepidation she cried out : 

"'Who art thou?' 

" The laborer answered : 

'" I am Izraeel, the angel of death, and am come to take thy 
soul, that of thy father, thy mother, their viziers, and those of 
their generals.' 

" The princess hearing this, shook in her clothes, her hair stood 
on end, and she cried out : 



GENEROUS ADVICE OF VIZIERS. 



" ' Alas ! alas ! for what crimes dost thou come so suddenly 
upon us ? ' 

" ' He replied : ' It is solely on thy account ; but if thy father 
will grant my request I will spare thine and all their lives.' 

"'The princess ssid: 'Let me know thy wishes, for rather 
than die he will gratify a thousand.' 

■ " The laborer cried out : ' If thy father will marry me to 
thee, I will spare him ; but if not, I will instantly seize thy 
soul, thy father's, thy mother's, those of the nobles, the viziers, 
and the generals, in a single day.' 

" The princess promised compliance, upon which he repaired 
to his chair, beat it with a switch, and said, ' Convey me to my 
own house.' 

"It ascended as before to the sky; the princess viewed him 
mounting with astonishment, and believed that he was really 
Izraeel, the angel of death. 

" She went to her mother and informed her of what he had 
said ; the queen related the adventure to the sultan, who con- 
sulted his viziers, and told them of the threats of Izraeel, and 
his demand of the princess in marriage. 

" The viziers exclaimed : 

" ' Save us, save us ; if you make Izraeel your son-in-law the 
sovereigns of the world will bow down to your authority.' 

" The sultan, upon this, sent for the cauzee and the witnesses, 
and immediately executed the deed of marriage for his daugh- 
ter to Izraeel, the angel of death. 

" On the following night the laborer ascended in his chair, 
and entered the princess' apartment, when she presented him 
the marriage deed, and said : 

" ' What remains now but to celebrate the nuptials ? ' 



H4 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



" Izraeel replied, ' I will not appear during the preparatory 
festivities, until the night of marriage, which shall be next Fri- 
day ; so hasten.' 

" Having said this he departed, and ascended in his chair in 
sight of the princess, till the height concealed him from view. 

" While the usual ceremonies were going on at the palace, 
the artful laborer procurred a carpenter to fix over his chair a 
canopy of wood, in the form of a dome, which he covered over 
with green, yellow, and red silk in stripes, and placed all over it 
lanterns, in which he could fix candles. 

"He then put on a green vest, and a crown set with pearls and 
diamonds, which he had stolen from the palace of the sultan. 

" When the night of the marriage arrived the laborer sat 
down in his chair, placed his candles, and took with him a quan- 
tity of sulphur. 

"Then he commanded the chair to ascend, and descend 
gradually into the court of the palace, where they were cele- 
brating the nuptial ceremonies. 

" The chair rose swiftly to such a height till the laborer could 
hear the angels sing ; then he lighted his candles in the lanterns 
and gently descended. 

" The sultan, the viziers, great officers of state, and the whole 
assembly now beheld Izraeel, the angel of death, descending 
from the sky in his green vest, and flashes of light (which he 
made with the sulphur) darting from the illuminated chair. 

" Some days after the marriage, a cook-maid looking for 
something to light her fire, on the terrace of the palace found 
the laborer's chair, which she took away, broke up, and converted 
into fuel. 

" At length, recollecting the machine, he wished to place it 



THE MAGIC CHAIR IS LOST. 



115 



safely for occasion, in the palace ; but on searching the terrace 
could not find it; upon which, in the extravagance of his grief 
he tore his beard, cursed his stars, and scattered dust upon his 
head. 

" As he dreaded discovery, he had now no resource but to 
slink from the palace under cover of the night, and retire to his 
former lodging, where he locked his door, wept and lamented 
his lost grandeur, till he was near perishing of hunger and 
thirst, and the fear accompanying the dread of discovery 

[" While in this state (to shorten the story), there appeared to 
him a " monstrous genius," who said he was a servant of the 
chair which had been exposed to the burning sun, and burnt in 
the fire. The laborer appealed to his sympathy with so good 
effect that ] 

" The genius hearing this speech, and beholding the distress 
of the laborer, was deeply affected. He then gave him a cap 
and a ring, and said : 

" ' Take care of these, do not lose them, or thy life will be 
taken away ! ' 

" The laborer took them, and said : 

" ' My lord, what are their properties ? ' 

"'The genius replied: 'When thou puttest the cap upon 
thy head, thou wilt be invisible to all eyes; and as for the 
ring, when distress shall attend thee, press it, and I will come 
to thee instantly, and execute all thy demands.' 

[" Armed with these powerful objects the laborer returned to 
the palace, and was happy again till the viziers told the sultan 
their suspicions that his son-in-law was not the angel of death, 
but a common laborer, and suggested that his power be put to 
test. So the sultan pretended to be longing for fresh apples, 



n6 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



though it was winter, and none were to be had. He sent for 
his daughter and asked her to request Izraeel to procure them. 
Of course this was very easy to the owner of a magic ring, and 
in a few minutes Izraeel presented the princess with a great 
quantity of apples, finer than ever seen in Bagdad. 

" Other trials were made of Izraeel's power, the last of which 
was to disperse the army of an enemy which had come to de- 
stroy the sultan. 

" Izraeel simply called for magical armor and weapons, from his 
genius of the chair, then put on his cap, and with the help of 
the genius went to the camp, and invisible themselves, killed so 
many of the enemy that they fled in confusion. 

" They entered the tent of the prince, took him prisoner, and 
loaded his treasure upom camels belonging to him.] 

" When the morning dawned, lo ! the plain was cleared from 
the enemy; upon which the sultan ventured from the city to 
look for his son-in-law, Izraeel, whom he soon perceived ad- 
vancing with his spoils, horses and mules and camels, heavily 
laden. 

" The sultan was astonished to see only Izraeel among such 
a convoy, for the genius was invisible. He exulted beyond 
measure, and with his viziers, nobles and generals, bowing down 
kissed the ground before his son-in-law, and conducted him re- 
spectfully into the city, and seated him on the throne of his 
kingdom, which he resigned to him. 

" Izraeel reigned, and lived happily with the princess until 
death the destroyer of all divided them." ' 



How do you like that ? 



NO PLAYMATES. 



117 



CHAPTER V. 

THE BABY WITHOUT A HOME ; THE LITTLE KIRGHIZ. 

There's one baby in Asia who never has a home ; if he is 
found in one place to-day, he'll be in a different one to-morrow, 
or certainly next week. Never does he stay in one place more 
than three or four days. He's a Nomad. 

What is that ? That is a person who spends his life in wan- 
dering about, with never a settled home. His father is a No- 
mad, his mother, and all the family, and, indeed, all his race. 
He lives in a wide, high plain in Asia called the Kirghiz Steppes, 
where for two thousand miles one way, and twelve hundred 
the other, there is scarcely a town, and hardly a settled family. 

Don't think he asks your pity, he abhors a settled life. He 
says that he is not so lazy as to stay in one place, that while 
the sun and moon, the water, and the animals all keep moving, 
he shall do so too. 

It's well he likes it, for he could not easily live any other 
way there. His father has thousands of animals, sheep, horses 
and camels, and it is to find food for them that he moves all the 
time. If his father is a Kirghiz chief, he may own ten thousand 
horses, a thousand camels, and uncounted sheep, and since his 
family is so big, of course he can never have a neighbor. 

No playmate can the Kirghiz youngster have out of his own 
family, except the calves and colts, with which he frolics ; and 



u8 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



no school is kept on the Steppes. The first thing he learns is 
to care for animals, and to ride. 

To ride is almost the first thing that happens to him in the 
world. He begins in the cradle, which is strapped on to a 
camel before mamma, and thus he takes his first journeys. As 
soon as he is a little bigger, and can sit up, he rides in a bag 
fastened to the back of some steady-going animal. There are 
two bags on the animal, and two children as passengers. 

But he soon outgrows the bag carriage ; the next thing is to 
have an animal to himself, and this is generally a calf, arranged 
with a saddle, to each side of which is fastened a boot of felt. 
With his legs in these boots, of course the youngster can't fall 
off, and very grand he feels, guiding his young steed by a thong 
in the nose. 

When he is bigger he will ride a larger animal, and at last 
will be a splendid horseman. When I say he, I mean not the 
boys alone, the girls are equally expert, and the boasted accom- 
plishments of the daughter of a Kirghiz sultan were horseman- 
ship, hunting with a hawk, throwing the lance, and wielding a 
battle-axe with effect. 

The funniest thing about the little Kirghiz, is his dress. Of 
course it is exactly like his papa's, as is the dress of little people 
nearly all over Asia. It consists of a pair of wide baggy trow- 
sers, and one or more dressing gowns over them. The trowsers 
are usually of yellowish-colored, leather, though a Kirghiz dandy 
sometimes has them made of velvet, and elegantly embroidered 
in gay colors. 

The dressing-gown is the great thing. In warm weather he 
will wear one of cotton or silk, and, as the weather gets cool, 
he will add one after another till he is bundled up in several of 



SLIPPERS OUTSIDE OF HIS BOOTS. 



them ; but when it is really winter, and such a winter, too, as 
you can hardly imagine, the outer dressing-gown, kalat, they 
call it, will be of fur. This very useful garment is made 
double, and, it is said, that when one side is soiled, the kalat is 
turned the other side out. This side growing even worse than 
the first, it is turned back again, and so it goes on, turning from 
side to side till it is in rags, and falls to pieces. 

This is not a pleasant thing to say about the Kirghiz, but we 
didn't expect to find everything according to our notions, did 
we ? 

But our boy isn't fully dressed ; when quite young he wears 
no cap, but as he grows tall, his head is shaved, and fre has a 
tall sugar-loaf shaped black hat made of lamb skin, with per- 
haps a band of other skin on the lower part to shade his eyes. 
Then, too, he has boots, very elegant affairs of red, or green, or 
some bright color, made with high heels, and long turned up 
toes. The sole and all is of the same leather ; so if our young 
friend wishes to walk out, he puts on his slippers / These are of 
some stronger material. 

But the young Kirghiz needs a belt, which is usually a shawl, 
and a pair of immense sleeves to his kalat, so that when he 
wishes to be very polite, he can cover up his hands in them ; 
for, queer as it seems to us, this is the height of elegance in the 
Steppes. 

Shall we dress the little girl and her mamma ? (for of course 
their dress is alike). Well, nothing is easier ; they dress exactly 
like the brother and father, except as to the head. The girl 
has her hair cut off from the back of the head, and the front 
braided in many fine long braids. Over this she wears a sort 
of hood of white cotton or calico. 



120 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



Here is a picture of a Kirghiz chief in his tent, with his 
daughter beside him, and his son in front of him. This is the 
house dress, of course. 




It is hardly necessary to speak of the children and the grown- 
ups, too, for the whole race is said to be like a tribe of children. 
They are extremely fond of gay colors. The great desire of a 
man or boy is to wear a red velvet dressing-gown, and the 



ONE CAMEL CARRIES THE HOUSE. 



121 



women and girls indulge in silks, and satins, and velvets, of the 
gayest colors. 

There's a funny story about this showy dress, too. The whole 
family in their moving about life, have to work. If the mother 
of the household is the wife of the richest and greatest chief, 
she has to take part in the milking of their many animals, and 
in the work of the tent. The men and boys, too, have their 
work in caring for the animals, and one would think there could 
be no use for velvets and satins. 

There would not, in our way of thinking, but things in Asia 
are quite different. Mamma puts on her elegant satin kalat, 
milks, sets up or takes down the house (with help of her ser- 
vants), mounts her camel or horse, and rides all day in her fine 
clothes, without dreaming that she is doing anything strange. 
Papa does the same with his. 

The little people of Kirghizland, moving about every day or 
two, can never live in a house, or anything stationary ; indeed, 
they are perfectly miserable inside of four walls, and feel as if 
they were in prison. Their home is a kibitka, a tent of felt 
over a frame, which opens something like an umbrella, and can 
be closed tightly, to move. On the next page is the inside of 
one; you can see the frame. 

When the family wish to move only a little distance, six or 
eight of them can lift the house bodily and carry it off ; but if 
they go far, it is taken down and packed on a camel, and one 
animal can carry the whole house. 

The little Kirghiz never sleeps on a bedstead nor sits on a 
chair ; he never eats from a table, nor is the proud possessor of 
a bureau-drawer; carpets there are in the house, that is, small 
carpets, like what we call rugs. Skins, and cushions, a few 



122 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



cooking utensils, and some great leather pails for milk, boxes 
of clothes, silks and such things, are all the furniture, even of 
the richest Kirghiz tent. 

The beds are rugs or skins spread on the floor, and the young- 




CHIEF IN HIS TENT. 

sters sleep in their clothes, wrapped in furs and felt blankets. 
The floor is the table, and the dishes are wooden bowls. The 
dinner is cooked in an iron kettle over the fire in the middle of 
the tent, and if it is a whole sheep, as it often is, there is a 



BABIES BLOWN OUT OF BED. 



I2 3 



kettle big enough to hold it, and an iron standard on which to 
place it over the fire. 

The greatest, or the most important thing in the Kibitka is, 
perhaps, the koumis bag. Koumis is a drink of fermented 
milk, made by pouring the fresh milk into a leather bag of 
immense size, and every day drawing off what is wanted. It 
is the great drink of the people, and the first thing offered to a 
stranger. The people are so fond of it that they have small 
bottles to carry on the saddle when riding. 

This picnic sort of life of the little Kirghiz may be all very 
well in summer, when the weather is warm and there's plenty of 
food for the animals ; but there's a winter in every year, and 
winter is no joke on the Steppes of Asia. 

It is so cold that one's eyelids freeze together, and the 
storms of wind and snow together are dreadful ; tents are blown 
down, children blown out of their beds and lost in the snow- 
drifts ; even grown people trying to walk a few rods have been 
blown so far away that they were lost, and could not find their 
way back through the blinding snow. 

Then if no snow is on the ground, and if travelers or moving 
Kirghiz families are traveling through the sandy plains, the 
fearful winds blow up great clouds and drifts of sand, which 
cover and bury whole parties at once. When a sand-storm is 
seen on its way, both men and animals run for their lives ; you 
can see them in the picture on page 125. 

If they can get out of the path of the storm they are safe, if 
not they are buried. Such a storm coming toward a vast drove 
of horses and camels puts them all into a panic, and they gaj- 
lop madly away in every direction. 

There's another danger to the animals also. They are hardly 



124 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



ever fed by their owners, and in very deep snows they often 
find it impossible to get enough to eat, and then they die in 
great numbers. A Kirghiz may be rich one day and a beggar 
the next. 

Kirghiz boys and girls do not marry so young as the little 
people of India and other southern countries, but they are often 
betrothed to each other when very young. This matter is all 
arranged by the parents, and those most interested in the mar- 
riage have nothing to do about it till the bridegroom comes 
after his bride. 

Then a funny scene takes place. The girl sits in a tent, sing- 
ing, principally about sheep, for most of the Kirghiz songs are 
about that useful creature. Around her tent is a ring of the 
women of the tribe, gathered from far and near. When the 
bridegroom starts for the tent, where he has a right to go (for 
he has given his future father-in-law all the sheep he required 
for his daughter, and everything is settled), he is opposed by 
these women. They rush at him and beat him with sticks. Of 
course he doesn't enjoy it, but it is the fashion, so he goes on in. 

There sits his bride, who at once makes him a present, a 
queer one too ! some red silk, feathers and cloves. This is the 
regular bridal present to him. Now the women outside begin 
to sing, and a great feast is made. Friends come from every- 
where, bringing sheep and horses to be eaten during the joyful 
time. 

The big iron cauldron is kept over a fire boiling all day, and 
everybody eats as much as he can (and the amount a Kirghiz 
can eat is something fearful). Sometimes a hundred sheep 
and forty or fifty horses are eaten at one of these wedding 
feasts. 




THEY RUN FOR THEIR LIVES. 



126 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



After the eating come games, wrestling, and horse-racing, in 
the latter of which the girls take part, and then the young 
couple are considered to be married, and everybody goes back 
to his own Kibitka and his regular work. 

The last thing I'm going to tell you about the little men and 
women of Kirghizland, will not, I hope, make you envy them 




WHEN HE HAS A HOUSE, IT IS LIKE THIS. 



in their wild, restless life; they have the biggest pockets you 
ever heard of ! No amount of balls, and tops, and strings, and 
knives, and corks, and marbles, and mittens, and handkerchiefs, 
and nails, and other " traps " would overload their pockets, and 
call down a reproof and a solemn clearing out from mamma. 




KIRGHIZ MUSIC. 



128 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



Think of the delights of' that, boys ! and let me tell you how 
this wonderful pocket is made. 

You know I told you they wear very wide leather trowsers ; 
well, the trowsers are drawn around the waist by a string, and 
tied around the knee by two more strings, and the whole inside 
is one big pocket / 

How dreadful! and yet how big! 

The Kirghiz, like other people of Asia, are fond of music and 
story-telling. On page 127 is a musician entertaining a chief 
and his wife. Though he is a chief of his tribe you see he 
lives in a tent like the rest. 

I told you the Kirghiz boy learned to be a good horseman. 
It's well he does, for sometimes he is surprised by a tiger, as 
you see here, and if he were clumsy he might not save his skin. 

If a Kirghiz youngster ever does live in a house for awhile, it 
is not much of a building after all. See it on page 126, and it 
might about as well be a tent after all. 




SURPRISED 



130 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE BABY WHO NEVER CRIES ; THE LITTLE HINDU. 

Far away to the east of the little people in turbans and veils, 
live other youngsters, whose ways are stranger still. 

I knew when we began this search into little folks' ways, 
that we should see queer things, but I must say, I did not ex- 
pect to discover a baby who never cries, and here we have 
plumped right on to one ! 

" Never cries," say all the books, and yet there he lies, some- 
times all day long in, or rather on, his cradle. Flies may tor- 
ment him, mosquitoes may nip him, heat may burn him, and yet 
he rarely opens his mouth for any but pleasant sounds. 

Worse still, if his mother is poor and has to work, he clings to 
her side, seated on her hip, and not only gets tired, but hungry 
and sleepy, and still the good-natured fellow does not cry or 
fret. 

When he gets to be a big boy, and goes to school, he is good- 
tempered and patient ; he rarely quarrels with his playmates, 
and even though a ragged street-boy, he is scarcely ever known 
to fight. 

He does not lose this agreeable quality when he becomes a 
man ; he is patient, good-natured, and polite, so much so that 
he is called the " mild Hindu ; " for it is the boy of India that 
we're looking at now. 



THE BABY'S SWING. 



He is not perfect, he's no model — alas, no ! He even has not 
some of the good traits that you American boys have. For 
instance, he has no idea of truthfulness. To tell a falsehood is 
not the unmanly, mean thing it is to you ; to deceive people is 
not unworthy of him, as it is (or should be) to you. To the 
Hindu boy, what is the 
custom, and what will 
serve his purpose best, 
is thought more of than 
what is right. So it is 
with his father, so it was 
with most of the gods 
he learns about. 

This is not the only 
thing in which he differs 
from you ; his whole life 
is as unlike yours as it is 
possible to make it. To 
begin with, he wears no 
clothes, to speak of, till 
he is several years old. 
His cradle, well, I wish 
you could see one ! and 
you shall see a picture. 



Look at it 



a square 




HINDU CRADLE. 



frame with a piece of 
muslin stretched over it, and hung from the wall by a cord 
at each corner. 

On this swinging frame lies the black-eyed youngster, free to 
kick or roll, or tumble about as he likes. He is swung back and 



132 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



forth by his nurse or mother, and he is sung to sleep by a lullaby 
like this : 

" Sleep, baby sleep ! 
Bread, butter, sugar;" 

which is more senseless, even, than our own jingles. 

This, you must know, is the well-to-do Hindu baby ; many 
little folks in India have to do without the swing, I assure you. 




BASKET CRADLES. 



One that I told you of, lies under a falling stream, this is the 
Simla youngster; others ride in a basket on their mother's head, 
when she goes about, and lie on the ground when she works, as 
these from Northern India. Other young Indians are carried in 
baskets on the mother's back, as you have already seen in pict- 
ures, and still others in bags. There is one, a little gypsy baby 
— queer looking object it is too, its poor little head dangling 




GYPSY BABY. 



134 LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



about, this way and that, till it is a wonder it does not fall off 
altogether. 




HOME OF THE TODA LITTLE FOLK. 



But what a looking father and mother! Gypsies are strange 
creatures wherever they are found, but these are the oddest yet, 
I think. 



A TODA GIRL AND HER MOTHER. 



136 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



When there are two youngsters to carry, the good-natured 
Indian papa will sometimes sling a basket on each end of a bam- 
boo pole, put a baby in each one, raise the pole to his shoulder, 
and walk off as if he carried a load of goods, two loads, rather. 

But these are all poor people, who have no settled home and 
nice swing for their little one, and so are forced to get along as best 
they can, without making any special fuss over him. As this one, 
for instance, the Toda baby, who is carried in his mother's arms 
and lives in this droll little hut, with a stone wall around it. You 
want to see this odd mother a little nearer? On page 135 she is 
made larger, with her daughter beside her. Interesting people, 
are they not ? What a sulky looking girl ! and what a dress ! 

That little fellow in the swing finds life a different thing. 
Queer doings about him, as you'll see. 

The first thing is to clean house ! Just at the time when we 
think baby should be kept warm, and the house quiet, the Hindu 
house is turned upside down, and inside out. It is cleaned from 
attic to cellar (or rather from roof to ground), or washed with 
mud inside and out, or sprinkled with holy water. 

That'll do to begin ; then everybody in the house must bathe 
and rub his head with oil, and all the friends of the family must 
come to a grand feast. I may as well say now, that nothing in 
the least important is done in India without something to eat. 
Now baby must be received into his caste. 

[I'll tell you more about caste by and by.] 

To perform this first duty the young Hindu is touched by the 
hand of the priest, who then makes an offering of bran and mus- 
tard-seed, to the God of Fire. 

This will do for ten days, and then he must receive his name. 
This is a solemn affair, and the Brahmin (one of the priests) is 



THE PLANETS MUST BE RIGHT. 1 37 

called in to help. First he looks into his books to see if the 
planets are in a favorable position for the ceremony at the mo- 
ment desired. 




BRAHMIN AT PRAYER. 



You don't see what the planets have to do with it? Well, 
you would if you were a Hindu. With them nothing is done 



138 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



unless the omens are favorable. If the signs do not suit, the 
Brahmin tries by prayers and sacrifices, to drive away the 
bad influence, and the day is settled upon. Friends and rela- 
tives come in, and baby is given a name, with the selection 
of which the stars and the month of his birth have something 
to do. Here is the Brahmin at his prayers. 

All this time, you must know, the greatest pains have been 
taken to attract the " evil eye " away from the infant, by curious 
shells or coins, or any odd thing hung about him ; or by exor- 
cising with a little chaff and salt. Great care has been taken 
never to speak of the child at night, lest an owl hear the name, 
and repeat it, and the child should die ! Nor to remark that he 
is healthy, or fat, or beautiful, lest some evil spirit should think 
it worth his while to make trouble. 

Superstitious? Yes, it must be admitted our Hindu fellow 
creatures are so. 

Above all things, now take heed! one must never, never pull 
a baby's nose ! It will surely be ill. 

And what do you suppose its mother would do then ? Send 
for the doctor ? — not she ! She would fill a small earthen pan 
with rice and other things, and put in the street before her 
house. 

What good would that do? Why, the first person who 
touched that dish, even accidentally, would carry off the dis- 
ease, and baby would be well ! At least so she thinks, and 
every passer-by believes so too, or anyway they step very care- 
fully one side. 

Other little folk of India live in boats. They belong to the 
northern part, to Kashmere, and the boat is thatched with mat- 
ting, and has rolls of matting at the sides, which are let down 



EVEN THE BABY HELPS. 1 39 

at night, and so make a little more comfortable room. Here is 
a picture of one of these boats, with the side curtains up. 
When it can be rowed along the river everybody has a paddle, 




THE HOME IN A BOAT. 



down to the very baby ; and when it has to be towed, as it often 
has, the whole family take hold of the rope. 

In the picture the three, father, mother, and child, that you 



140 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



see pulling on a rope, are dragging their boat, which has not 
yet come in sight ; but further up the stream you see another 
boat like theirs. 

These boat people earn their living by carrying passengers up 




THE KASHMERE BABY. 



and down the river, and their pay is so small that they cannot 
hire help, so even the babies must work. 

In the same part of India lives also this queer baby, who has 
her hair braided in many braids, with black cords braided in to 
make it look longer. See how long her hair hangs, and how 




DRESS OF A CHILD IN INDIA. 



142 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



different her dress from some of the other little people we have 
seen. 

What is the woman doing on the ground ? Not eating bread, 
as you may think. It does look like it, but probably she never 
saw a slice of bread like that. She is getting a piece of cotton 
ready to spin. 

Over behind the little hill you can see the way they carry 
water, in a jar on the head. 

To go back to the little Hindu. Six months now pass in 
peace over the roly-poly brown baby, while he grows strong and 
fat, and is kept from taking cold by a small bit of opium in his 
mouth now and then. Not a big piece, about half the size of a 
pea, but enough to give him a liking for it in after-life, and a 
dreadful thing, to our notions. 

Then comes another great ceremony. Baby gets his first dish 
of rice, in the presence of all his friends and relatives, who have 
another feast, of course. 

I haven't said anything about the fine things the baby wears 
all this time. Well, it isn't because he has none to wear, I 
assure you. He has no clothes as a general thing, to be sure ; 
but, dear me ! clothes are not needed ! he's almost entirely 
covered with jewelry. Gold, and silver, and precious stones, 
armlets and bracelets, and anklets, rings and chains, and neck- 
laces, as many as the parents can get together, are all heaped 
on to this one dusky baby. Poor fellow ! Even the poor work- 
ing people will manage to load their little ones with jewelry. 

On the page back is a Mohammedan boy of India walking 
out with his mamma. He has no more clothes than the Hindu 
youngsters, but he is not so loaded with jewelry as they are. 

Up to this time the Hindu baby boy, or Larka, and the baby 



SCHOOL UNDER A TREE. 1 43 

girl, or Larkee, have been treated alike. From this point their 
lives divide, and henceforth everything is different with 
them. 

At three years of age comes the next important affair in the 
life of the Hindu boy, he has his head shaved. The priest, or 
Brahmin, comes, and likewise the tribe of friends, for another 
feast. The priest touches the boy's head with Cusa grass, in 
five places, on the back, the front, the top, and each side. Then 
the hair is shaved off, excepting a tuft on the back. 

Now soon begins school-life. The boy, Chokra, he is now, 
has a muslin cap and coat, and begins his education. He isn't 
expected to play much, for both teacher and parents think that 
playing is the road to beggary. Parents like to see their chil- 
dren sitting quietly on the floor with arms folded, or taking a 
nap in the garden, and not, as we like best, to see them run-' 
ning about, growing strong and healthy by exercise. 

His school [I speak of a native school, and not of those es- 
tablished by the English] his school is a queer place. It may 
be under a tree, or a thatched shed, where the ground is covered 
with sand, in which the young students can work their exam- 
ples. Here they sit cross-legged, nearly all day, shouting les- 
sons at the top of their voices, and swaying back and forth like 
the Turkish boy. 

The exercises are something like this. They begin by sing- 
ing an invocation to the God of Wisdom, and one would think 
they needed all the help they could get from him. Then come 
the lessons, which they learn by rote, or " by heart " as you 
say. An hour before the close of school, the scholars stand 
up in line, and hold their hands on their hearts while they re- 
peat the multiplication table, the alphabet, and certain sacred 



144 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



hymns. At the end of each of these, they raise their hands 
to the forehead, and make a low bow. 

The master then teaches them a long list of things they must 
do at home, and to each one they shout " Yes, yes." Then 
they prostrate themselves before the teacher, which is the same 
as your bowing, and all go home. 

The funniest thing about a Hindu school is its punishments, 
for even these "good little boys" do sometimes have to be pun- 
ished, and " errors " and " marks " would have no effect. If the 
boy has not been very naughty, he is beaten in the palm of 
the hand, something like our old fashion of feruling ; or he is 
made to stand up and sit down a certain number of times, 
holding his own ears with his hands. 

If he needs greater punishment, he is made to stand in some 
ridiculous or cruel position, perhaps bent over with one hand 
holding his toes, and a pebble on his neck, or something on 
his back, which he must keep from letting fall, or he will be 
beaten. 

When the boy is about eight years old, if he is a Brahmin, 
comes the next great point in his life, putting on the- sacred 
thread, which all of that caste wear. 

By this ceremony the boy becomes what is called a " Twice- 
born " one, and he is considered a pure Brahmin, and fit to en- 
gage in any religious performances. 

The boy is shaved, and a wire put in his ear, ready for an ear- 
ring. He is then bathed, and the sacred thread (the cotton of 
which has been sown, watered, gathered, spun and woven by 
Brahmins) is put around his body and over one shoulder, by 
the parent or some near relative. Offerings are made to the 
gods, texts from their sacred books are repeated, and various 



THE LARK EE WHO IS NOT WANTED. 



145 



other religious acts take place during four days. It ends with 
a feast, of course. 

Very different all this time has been the life of the Hindu 
Larkee. To begin with, she is met at the very first hour of her 
life with the question whether she shall be allowed to live. 
Not because they despise girls, as. some have said, but because 
it is very costly to bring up a daughter. I will tell you why, 
very soon. 

A son, moreover, will support the family, take care of his pa- 
rents when they are old, and above all light the sacred fire that 
shall burn their dead bodies and hasten their departed spirits 
into a better state, and a daughter is not allowed in India to do 
any of these things. 

What becomes of the poor Larkee who is not wanted in 
India? Well, the parents do the best they know, they * do not 
mean to be cruel. They either put a bit of opium in the little 
mouth, and let her sleep herself to death, or they lay her in a 
little basket and set her afloat in the river Ganges, because they 
firmly believe that one who dies in that holy river goes di- 
rectly to Paradise. There is not so much of this done in India 
since the English have ruled the country. In fact, many things 
are changing ; but I am trying to tell you how the Hindus them- 
selves lived, and how they still live where not changed by their 
rulers. 

If the parents decide to let the poor little Hindu girl live, she 
has a pleasant life for a few years. She is shy and retiring, 
never boisterous like young American girls, and she is loaded 
with jewelry and sent to school. 

I wish I could show you one of these little school girls. Her 
dress will be perhaps of gauze with threads of gold woven into 



146 



LITTLE PEOPLE OE ASIA. 



the fabric. Her hair and ears, neck and arms, ankles and toes 
covered with gold and silver and precious stones. Thousands 
of dollars worth will be put on to one youngster of six, boy 
or girl. 

Of course this is a great temptation to thieves, and children 
are often robbed in the streets. 

One would suppose a child so dressed must 
belong to very wealthy parents, but the truth is, 
that often the whole fortune of the wearer will 
be in these things. 

But let me tell you of another school-dress 
that I read of. It was a green satin vest, trimmed 
with gold lace, and a long rose-colored scarf, 
over white lower garments. What a gorgeous 
little school girl ! 

The Hindu girl has playthings. Of course she 
has a doll, and a droll object it is too. Here it 
is. It is made of wood, all dressed and adorned, 
and everything of wood. Nothing comes off 
but the head, which is held on by a peg. It is a 
gay object ; nearly every color of the rainbow is 
painted on the clothes and ornaments. She 
may have a dozen dolls, of all sizes, but they 
will all be dressed in paint and gilt, with ears of a brilliant color, 
spots on nose and chin, and a head that comes off. Think of 
your dolls of bisque and wax, with their different dresses, and 
all to " come off." 

But you needn't pity the little Larkee, she doubtless thinks 
her dolls the finest in the world, and dolls are important parts of 
the family in India. In wealthy families dolls have- a room to 




DOLLS ARE SUNG TO SLEEP. 



147 



themselves, are ^ always sung to sleep, and enjoy as much atten- 
tion as the children. Feasts and garden parties are given for 
them, they are married and die, and their little owners mourn as 
for a friend. I read an extract from a Bengal paper, giving an 
account of the marriage of two dolls belonging to wealthy Hindu 
families, where there was a grand street procession and expen- 
sive feasts to friends, and gifts to the poor, exactly as though 
it was a real wedding. 

The boys too have toys. Ele- 
phants like those in our shops made 
of wood, and of all sizes, and the 
boys amuse themselves feeding them 
with rice, and giving them water to 
drink. Then they have also a cow 
(a funny creature as you see in this 
picture) and both are painted in the 
same gay style as the doll, with crim- 
son and gold, dotted with yellow and 
blue stripes. Of these two animals 
the ears come off. 

The boys also have kites without 
tails, bows and arrows, marbles, tops, 
which they whip as you do, and they play jack-stones with five- 
sided nuts. 

They have, too, games like ours : Puss-in-the-corner, Hide 
and seek, Blind-man's-buff, Odd and even, and others. 

Many toys are made of silver, and of carved ivory for the 
rich, and similar ones of pewter and wood for the poor. The 
toy-peddler is a welcome visitor to the houses, and he has curi- 
ous objects. Dogs with red heads and tails, blue bodies and 




TOY COW. 



148 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



black legs, horses, paper parrots, reed jumping-jacks, and lots of 
other things. 

You'll be glad to know that the youngsters of India also know 
the delights of making mud pies, and they like to make figures 
of some Hindu god, and offer it sweetmeats of the same ma- 
terial. 

Girls also embroider very nicely, especially little bags to hold 
spices, which they give to their friends ; but the crowning toy 
for the girls is a live doll, or the child of some slave, which they 
adopt and play with almost as if it were a doll. 

But little people grow fast in India, and about the time that 
your American youngsters are begining to go to Kindergarten, 
and thinking of school, the poor little Larkee of India is mar- 
ried ! Truly ; sometimes when she is not more than two or 
three years old. She doesn't go to live at her husband's house 
quite so young, not generally before she is eleven, but she is 
married with great ceremonies lasting five days, as early as her 
parents can make the arrangements. 

It is a serious matter when her father sets out to look up a 
husband for her. That would be a serious matter in any part 
of the world, but the Hindu father makes it more so by the 
omens he is concerned about. If he should meet a dealer in oil, 
or a dog should shake his ears, or a crow fly over his head, or if 
any one of a thousand other things should happen, he would go 
home and try another day. 

On the contrary, should he meet a young girl, flowers, or 
white rice, or elephant, or a dead body, a fish or a bangle seller, 
he would consider himself in luck, and go on his way joyfully. 

When a husband is settled upon and the Larkee is betrothed, 
a veil is put on her (if she belongs to the aristocracy), the ends 




HINDU MOTHERS. 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



of her fingers are dyed pink, and she is a purdah nasheen or " one 
who sits behind the curtain." 

No more must her face be seen by any man except father, 
brother, or husband ; no more may she go out in the streets ex- 
cept in a Palankeen, a sort of box carried by men. You need 
not pity her, it is her pride and joy. She is as proud of being a 
secluded woman as one of her sort among us is of living in grand 
style. It is aristocratic, it is the fashion, and the woman 
obliged to mix in the world as we do, considers herself one of 
the most unfortunate of beings. 

Now her home is in the Zenana, or woman's quarters, and her 
boy betrothed becomes her playfellow. If he should die, even 
before the marriage ceremonies, she is a widow, and must never 
marry. Worse than that, she must shave her head, and become 
a slave and drudge to others, with no hope of ever being any- 
thing different. 

Now begins her education, beyond what little (and very little 
it is) she has learned at school. Her mother is her teacher, 
and she learns cooking and religion ! On the page back is a 
picture of two Hindu mothers. 

You think that's easier to learn than French and music, and 
so forth, and so forth, that you have to learn ? Wait till you 
hear; it is far from easy to a Hindu. Cooking is a serious mat- 
ter, a part of their religion. Hindus are a marvelously religious 
people, they eat, and bathe, and dress, and marry, die and are 
buried, all according to their religion ! 

Every smallest thing about cooking and eating is done exactly 
as ordered by the law of their caste. The water must be 
brought from just such a place, in just such a way, and by just 
such a person. The food must be of just such kinds, and cooked 



NEVER SEE ONE EATING. 151 

in just such ways, and particular precautions must be taken to 
keep evil influences away from it. 

A lower caste person casting an eye on any of the food or 
water, or even the shadow of such a person falling on it, defiles 
the food, and it is thrown away, even if the family go dinner- 
less. A stranger looking on a Hindu at his meal, defiles it. It 
is said one may go from one end of India to the other, and 
never see one of the higher caste eating. Many of them lock 
themselves in their kitchens to cook and eat their meals. 

Most important of all, perhaps, is the manner of serving the 
food. The shape of the cloth, where it is spread, what dishes 
are used, and a thousand other things, are great and mighty 
matters to a Hindu. 

To learn to cook the meals exactly right, and serve them in 
the same way, is one of the most important studies of the Hindu 
girl, and no matter how much money, nor how many servants a 
man has, his wife must cook and serve his food. 

I have several times spoken of caste ; I will say a few words 
about it here, although it is a subject too big for little people, 
not to say what it is for their elders. 

There are in India four castes, and everybody is born into one 
or other of them. No power on earth can take a man out of 
his caste, or pass him to another. Every act of his life, even 
the very least, is ruled by the laws of his caste, and they follow 
him into the next world (in his opinion). 

Brahmins or holy teachers are the highest, then kings and sol- 
diers, third, farmers and traders, fourth, servants, besides out- 
castes, to whom belong the rest of the world. So strong a hold 
on the people has this institution of caste, that they will die 
rather than break its laws. 



152 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



But that's enough about caste. I hope you haven't " skipped " 
it. Let us go back to the little Hindu girl, going on with her 
education under her mother's teaching. 

When she has learned all the mighty and important matters 
about cooking and serving food, she is promoted to the study 
of religion, a queer study as her mother teaches it. 

She begins by learning " by heart " many verses from their 
sacred book. Then come the histories of various Hindu gods, 
with dialogues, and mythical stories. Most important of all, 
however, is a certain quarrel between two of their gods, and 
their wives ! This curious religious drama is carefully learned, 
word for word, out of a sacred book. 

Besides being a religious exercise, it is a favorite amusement 
to act this scene, like a play, to entertain lady guests, while they 
sit around on the floor, in the Zenana, cracking and chewing 
roasted coffee, or otherwise having a social time. 

When the Hindu girl knows all these things well, and is per- 
haps eleven years old, it is quite time for her to be married, if 
indeed she has not already been so. 

Should her father allow her to reach the age of fourteen un- 
married, he would be considered a most cruel parent, be despised 
by everybody, and degraded from his caste, which is a terrible 
thing I assure you, and it costs ever so much money to get 
back. 

As for the girl herself she has nothing to do with it, except to 
obey her father, and be married to whoever he selects; nor 
does the boy have any more to say ; it is all arranged by the 
parents. 

The reason why there must be a law to compel the girl's 
father to marry her, is because of their curious way of celebrat- 



THRO WING A WA Y MONE Y. 



153 



ing a marriage. Marriage is in India the most important relig- 
ious festival, as well as a chance for a social display. To make 
a grand and brilliant marriage is the aim of every parent, but 
this, naturally, is very costly. 

The bride's father is obliged in the first place to make a great 
feast, to last for five days, to which anybody may come, friends, 
or perfect strangers. 

Then there are processions at night, with torches, or lights, 
many fire-works, music and noise generally. Besides this he 
must scatter money among the people in the street, and let the 
crowd scramble for it. Rich men think it necessary to their 
dignity to throw away in this way sometimes two or three hun- 
dred thousand dollars. 

You think perhaps the crowd would not scramble for it, but 
an Indian crowd would, eagerly. Beggary is respectable in that 
queer country. Brahmins regard it as right and even pious 
for them to beg, but a sin and disgrace to work, while the 
people believe that for every handful of rice given to a beggar 
he gets a certain amount of credit with the gods. The bigger the 
gift, the greater the credit, of course. 

So a generous marriage display must fix a Hindu father all 
right for the next world, and it is well that it does, for it often 
ruins him for this world, since he goes into debt, and is unable 
to pay. 

You see, then, why a. girl baby is regarded as a luxury, and 
if the father has not a tolerably large fortune, he is afraid to 
undertake the marriage expenses which he cannot avoid. This 
is the reason that so many girl babies are quietly sent to para- 
dise, by drowning or otherwise. 

If, however, the father is not frightened, but spends his money 



154 



LITTLE PEOPLE OE ASIA. 



liberally, he is looked upon with great respect, and the young 
bride goes proudly to live in the house of her husband, with a 
subject to talk about for the rest of her days. 

What is that? Oh, her grand wedding! It makes her impor- 
tant for the rest of her life — poor child ! 

But the ceremonies are funny to us. The day before that 
fixed for the marriage, the bridegroom goes through some forms, 
to show that he has not neglected his religious studies. Then 
offerings are made, the last bit of hair is shaved off his head, 
and he pretends to set out to look for a wife. After awhile he 
plays that he can't find one, and then turns toward the river 
Ganges, as if about to go. 

But a friend comes to the rescue, and offers to give him a 
bride, and the youth says he wants her now. 

So he sets out in a gorgeous procession after her, the street 
people stare, and everybody is gratified, and he at last reaches 
the bride's house. 

Now the two are seated together on a stool (which must be 
disagreeable, for they generally sit on the floor), and the priests 
repeat texts, and tell the names of their respected ancestors. 

The next thing is to wash the feet of the bridegroom with 
water and milk ! This doubtless means something ; but outside 
barbarians can't be expected to know. 

Next a yoke is held over the head of the bride, while the 
bridegroom repeats texts to her, and pours water on her head. 
Then he ties on her neck the marriage badge, which is a thin 
round piece of gold, always worn, and answering the same pur- 
pose that a wedding-ring does with us. 

Dear me ! this is a terribly long ceremony ; how tired the 
poor things must be ! 



FOUR- LEGS. 



*55 



Then oil is put on' their heads, and offerings are made, while 
more texts are repeated. Later, the two walk together around 
a fire, and touch a certain stone with their feet. 

All this is on the first day, and it lasts for five days. Then 
come endless offerings, endless texts repeated, almost endless 
money scattered about, and plenty to eat for all the world who 
choose to come. Provisions from beginning to end. Every 
ceremony means something, and doubtless would be interesting 
as well as curious, if one could see them. 

This is the regular marriage ; and if it takes place when 
both are very young, as it often does, there is another cere- 
mony when the bride goes to her husband's house, which lasts 
three days. It is of the same sort, though not quite so gor- 
geous as this. 

This custom of early marriage is one great reason why Hindu 
girls can't go to school more. One just begins to get inter- 
ested when she has to stop, and be married ! Then comes 
the mother's teaching to fit her to be a Hindu wife, and after 
that the Zenana for the rest of her days, if (as I said before) 
she belongs to the upper castes. 

She goes, like the Turkish bride, to the house of her hus- 
band's father, and is, in fact, the slave of her mother-in-law, if 
she chooses to have her so. 

The house may be, and often is, even in well-to-do families, a 
poor place, without chairs or tables, with a rude short bedstead 
called a " Four-legs," without a mattress, a mat or two, a few 
boxes and cooking utensils. 

But if the Larkee has married into a rich family, who live in 
great style, she will find the house built around a court, which 
is made as pretty as they can afford. All the house windows 



1 5 6 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 




IN A COURT. 



look into it ; there are trees and flowers, riding paths and fount- 
ains. Here is a picture of one, or a corner of one. 

Queer doings are to be seen in these courts, the only " out- 



THEY SWING IN THE RAIN. 



157 



doors " the women enjoy. They ride horseback, with horses all 
decked with flowers and necklaces of big beads. Ladies and 
children, in silks and satins, for they never think of a riding 
habit, having the greatest fun. 

Then they have bows and arrows, queer arrows, that whistle 
as they fly, and bows that throw little balls of clay like mar- 
bles. 

But the greatest fun they have is with the swing. This is 
always as fine as they can afford, made of silver if they are rich 
enough, and hung between two posts. There's hardly a minute 
during the hours cool enough to be out of doors, when that 
swing isn't going. 

Not even the rain keeps them out of it; indeed, it is their 
best loved sport to swing in the rain, and to come in all drip- 
ping. It is thought to be very daring, and quite an adventure. 
Fancy how dull must be their life. 

Look in the house, and remember this is one of the finest 
sort. No chairs, not even a divan, as in Turkey. From one 
end of India to the other there was not such a thing- as a chair 
(till foreigners brought them); from highest to the lowest, all 
sat on the floor, which is generally of stamped earth. 

Carpets and cushions are considered furniture enough ; a 
table a few inches high is brought in if wanted, and carried out 
again. 

Sometimes they sit on their beds, but draw up their feet if 
they do. The bed of India is a strange affair. In a wealthy 
family its feet are made of silver, or gold, or ivory, while poorer 
families have them of wood. 

It is a frame a foot high, with no head or foot boards, no 
posts, and no springs, but a bottom of broad tapes laced across. 



158 



LITTLE TEOPLE OF ASIA. 



But Hindus, you know, are fond of a swing, so sometimes the 
bed is hung from the wall, like a baby's cradle. 

If the owner happens to be rich the bed is spread with velvet 
and satin, and the pillows, of different shapes, are covered with 
the same. Such a thing as a sheet or pillow-case is unknown. 
When the velvet or satin bedding is soiled, it is thrown away, 
and new put on. 

It's a funny sight to see a grown-up woman sitting on the bed, 
perhaps with a lady guest beside her, and being swung back 
and forth by two servants, while a punkah boy outside pulls the 
string which moves the big fan, and keeps the room cool. 

Still funnier is it to think of her being swung to sleep at night, 
or lulled by stories, just as was the Sultan in the Arabian 




Nights. The stories she likes are of war- 
riors and heroes, fairies, enchantments, and 
sometimes adventures of the gods. The 
more marvelous they are the better she 
likes them, and many people believe every 
word of them. 



A servant or slave who can tell stories is 
valuable. 



You needn't laugh at the women, you 




You ought to see one of these families go 
to bed, though it isn't much to see, I must 
say. Perhaps the lady may lay off her out- 



PUNKAH BOY. 



side jacket, perhaps not. Nothing else comes 



off. She simply lies down in her clothes. 



RINGS ON HER FINGERS AND 10ES. 



159 



How does the girl of India dress after she has gone to live 
with her mother-in-law ? Silks, satins, gauze, brocade or velvet ; 
these are the materials of her garments. She wears satin or 
silk trowsers, very wide at the ankle, sometimes eight yards 
wide. Then a close-fitting jacket without sleeves, and a looser 
one over. Sometimes an India shawl or two around her waist. 

These clothes she wears till soiled, perhaps a day or two, per- 
haps longer if not very rich, and then throws them aside and 
gets new. Of the variety of undergarments which we wear she 
knows nothing. 

Over the dress she puts on as much gold and jewelry as she 
can hang on. Not only rings on fingers and toes, and silver 
bells on her, ankles, but bracelets away up to her shoulder, ank- 
lets of silver or gold, with jingling bangles and bells, chains on 
-her neck, jewels in her hair, even a nose-ring if she is married 
(for it is a love token), and precious stones everywhere she can 
hang one on, or stick one in. 

An Indian lady dressed up is a wonderful sight, I assure you ; 
but I haven't ended the picture. The oddest ornament is the 
tika, a tiny gold cup-shaped object, stuck between the eyebrows 
with some sticking mixture, as you see in the picture on page 
149, and the prettiest ornaments are the flowers, with which a 
lady will almost cover herself. She strings them on fine wire, 
and hangs them around her neck, or in her ears, or winds them 
around arms or ankles. 

Her slippers, which she never wears in the house, are of gay- 
colored cloth, embroidered with silver or gold, and covered with 
pearls. Stockings she never heard of. Ah, children! what fun! 
she goes barefooted ! 

This you must remember is a rich lady, a purdah nasheen ! 



i6o 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 




Common women wear one long piece of cotton cloth eight or 
nine yards long, which they throw over the right shoulder, and 
fasten around the waist. They can cover themselves entirely 
with this one garment, which falls in graceful folds. One end 

of it serves for a bonnet. 

Parsee little people and their 
mothers, of which there are many 
in India, dress still another way, 
as you see here ; girls and women 
who live in the mountains, and 
have to carry loads up and down, 
have yet another way of making 
their gay-colored clothes, and the 
queer boots to protect their feet 
from cold and rough walking, and 

RESTING. 

boys and men who have to look 
after sheep dress very much like your old friend " Poor old 
Robinson Crusoe." 

To tell the truth, it's rather hard to say how people do dress 
in that land of strange things, for nowhere are there more ways 
to cover the body than there. 

But though she has but one 
garment, and lives in a mud 
hut, the Hindu women will 
generally be covered with 
ornaments. These things are 
almost the breath of life to 
her ; taking them off is her 
way of going into mourning, and to show utterly crushing grief, 
she will pound up her jewels in a mortar ! 




MOUNTAIN BOOTS. 



DRESS OF THE PARSER LITTLE FOLK. 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



The Hindu man of the same rank wears two pieces of cotton, 
and a turban, with a pair of slippers or sandals. 

Dinner is a curious affair in Hinduland. No cheerful table, 
with the family all around it ; not even a dining-room. When 
a man wants his dinner he sits down on a mat on the ground, 
and his wife puts the meal before him. 

That is the beginning. If the man is a Brahmin, the place 
prepared for him on the ground is square ; 
if he was of a different caste, the dinner 
place would be triangular ; if of another 
still, of round shape. 

He is seated ; and now begins a scene. 
He bows to the dish that is brought in, 
lifts the plate in his left hand and blesses 
it, then turns his hand around the plate, 
or goes around it himself, in order to cut 
off all outside influence. 

Then he offers five pieces to Yama, 
washes his mouth, offers five morsels to 
the five senses, wets his eyes, and eats his 
meal in silence, as quickly as he can. 

FROM THE MOUNTAINS. 

He has neither knife or fork ; he would 
scorn them. He thinks it very bad to use one of them a second 
time, for how can you know that it is perfectly clean, and has 
not been put to some other use ! 

But worst of all in his eyes, is our barbarous habit of sitting 
at a table covered with carcases and skeletons, as he regards the 
bones of our fowls and other meat. It makes him shudder with 
horror to see it. 

His meat, when he has any, is boiled to get out the juice, and 




YOU THINK IT IS DULL? 1 63 

rice is cooked in that. So he gets the taste and goodness of the 
meat, without the horror of seeing it. His principal food is 
rice, with vegetables and fruits. 

You think life in the Zenana seems dull? Where the mothers 




THE PALANKEEN. 



do nothing from morning till night but lounge, dress, decorate 
their children or themselves, amuse themselves in the court, or 
entertain their friends with the cost of their jewels ; where they 
never read or sew, and where a woman will, for fifty years some- 



164 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF A SLA. 



times, never stir out of the gate ; and if she does go, is covered 
up in a palankeen, like this, only shut up tight. 

But there are amusements, even in private houses. There 
are the jugglers, who go about and perform most marvelous 
feats, such as, make a tree grow up, blossom and bear fruit from 
a seed they a short time before planted ; there are the acrobats, 
boys as well as men, who do strange things with their limber 
joints ; there are the minstrels, who play and sing long stories, 
and the regular story-tellers, who are always liked. 

There is the toy juggler, a man who sits down on the floor 
with a box full of figures of people, horses, carriages, and other 
things, made of pasteboard apparently, scatters them around, 
and then begins to play on his tom-tom, or drum, when they all 
seem to come to life ; the carriage jumps up into proper posi- 
tion, the horses take their places, the ladies arise and enter the 
carriage, and all is life and bustle, till the man stops playing, 
when, like a flash, they all fall dead as door-nails. 

Then there are little girl jugglers, who do impossible things, 
such as roll themselves into balls, bend backwards, and pick up 
with their eyelids bits of straw stuck in .he ground, thread 
needles with their toes, while their eyes are bandaged, and do 
any amount of dislocating of their joints. 

There are the smake charmers, who will bring a basket of the 
cunning reptiles, and make them do as they choose, or charm 
others of their kind out of their holes by their music, which 
I'm sure wouldn't charm anything but a snake; and the tor- 
toise charmers, who induce those seemingly stupid creatures to 
follow them about. 

And there is always the dance ! The dancers, called Nautch 
girls, are often sent for to amuse guests, and some of their 




EGG DANCE. 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



dances are graceful. One that a lady guest saw in an Indian 
Zenana was a kite dance, in which the motions of flying kites 
were imitated, and a famous one is the egg dance, where a girl, 

holding a basket of 
eggs, fastens them 
one after another into 
little nooses in a cir- 
cle of threads around 
her head, and then 
one by one takes them 
out again, all the time 
whirling around, and 
managing to do it 
without one egg 




touching another, or 
falling. This is a won- 
derful feat. 

There are also the 
bird tamer, who 
makes his little pets 
sing, or fly, or run 
along his arm as he 
tells them to do, as 
you see here in this 
picture ; and the ped- 
dler, whose pack is 
always mysterious to see, and often holds wonders. 

Then for the little girl, whose mother is not afraid to show 
her face maybe a ride now and then in the carriage with this 
droll pair of animals to draw it. See page 168. 



DANCING GIRL. 



FINE TIMES IN INDIA. 



For the boy who goes into the street, there are many more 
things to be seen. There are festivals of all sorts, and proces- 
sions without end, generally in the 
night, since that is the pleasantest 
time, and the moonlight is so 
bright one can read and write, and 
some writers say one needs an 
umbrella. These processions are 
brilliant affairs, with torches and 
music, and gorgeous display. 

And there is the festival of 
light, when every house is illumin- 
ated ; and the New Year's festival, 




TRAINING BIRDS. 




which lasts 

four days, and on "the last day, which is 
the New Year's day, the women sweep 
the house, collect the dust in a basket, 
put a lighted lamp in the middle, and 
throw the whole into the street, crying, 
" May sorrows and poverty go with 
you, and may the reign of Bali (that is, 
of prosperity) begin ! " 

It is rather interesting, that the day 
after New Year's is the day of Yama, 
and in memory of a visit he is said to 
have paid his sister, all Hindus go on 
that day to their sisters in the Zenana, 
and take presents to them. 

Then there are the soldiers, to be seen 
on some great occasion, with their jackets of red velvet, and with 



HINDU PEDDLER. 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



plenty of gold and jewels, and their fine horses, covered with 
embroidered housings, feathers and fine saddles, and their manes 
braided up with silver ornaments. You see them on page 170; 
they even have bracelets on ! 




HINDU CARRIAGE. 



But the soldiers are only the body-guard ; a grander sight 
follows for the Hindu boy, who stares with all his might (if he's 
anything like an American boy), and that is a native king on 
his elephant. 




A DECORATED ELEPHANT. 



170 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF A SLA. 




SOLDI EliS. 



Look at him. The elephant is painted, as you see, and deco- 
rated to the highest pitch, feathers, and fringes, velvet covering 
and bracelets (or anklets, would you call them ?), till he looks, as 
a traveler says, like a " mountain of gold sparkling with dia- 
monds." 



LIKE FAIRYLAND. 



171 



The hozvdah, in which the king sits, is made of solid gold, 
and the important person himself is fairly covered with dia- 
monds. His servants on the footboard, hanging below his 
seat, wave peacock fans, and cloth of gold, and perfumes are 




TRAVELING WAGON. 



burnt before his steps. It's a very grand thing, altogether, more 
gorgeous than our western people can imagine, and more like 
fairyland than we shall ever see, perhaps. 



172 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



Even these are not all the sights. The boy may travel, per- 
haps, in a covered wagon like the one on page 171, all wrapped in 
matting, and drawn by oxen. Then he will see the mail wagon, 
the stage we should call it, go rattling by, with its half-wild 
horses, and its English travelers. 




MAIL WAGON. 



And he will see the men drawing water by walking up and 
down the well sweep, while others carry it off in queer shaped 




A JUMPING WELL. 



174 



LITTLE PEOPLE OE ASIA. 



leather pails, as you see here; or he may come across a strange 
and awkward fishing arrangement, like the one opposite. 

If his journey is toward the city of Delhi, he may see a still 




DRAWING WATER. 



funnier sight, the jumping\vells. These are quite large, often 
twenty feet square, and have high brick walls around them, per- 
haps forty feet above the water, like the picture on the last page. 



THEY DIVE INTO THE WELL. 



175 



But what are the people doing ? That's what makes the thing 
funny ; men and boys for a very little money, make a business 
of jumping from the high parapet around them into the water. 
Going down they throw themselves into all sorts of positions, 
and make up faces to be as droll as they can ; but just before 
they touch the water they quickly straighten out, and go in feet 
first. You boys, who dive when you go in swimming, know 




FISHING. 



what a slap they'd get if they did not go in right. How would 
you like this way of getting a living? 

Women carrying loads of tea leaves, in their big square bas- 
kets, is another curious sight in the mountains, where the roads 
are always climbing, and often so rough, that a fallen tree has 
to serve as a bridge. 

These are the mothers of the babies I told you about before 



176 



LITTLE PEOPLE OE ASIA. 



who ride in baskets to the tea gardens. They belong to the 
tribe called Lepchas, and, strange as it may seem, little people 
are quite merry and happy there, though they live in the 
qeerest little houses, that look as if the first wind would blow 
them over. On page 180 is one belonging to a man who had plenty 
of money, and not to a beggar, as you might suppose. Besides 

money he had a 
herd of buffaloes, 
and ever so many 
other live crea- 
tures. 

In this simple 
hut lived a very 
pretty girl, and 
g r o w i n g over 
part of it was a 
passion flower 
vine, which in 
the proper season 
hung full of fruit, 
great golden balls 
as big as an egg, 
which are deli- 
cious to eat. Fancy eating the fruit of the passion flower. 

But that's no worse than drinking the life juice of the palm, 
which the man in the pictures on page 181 is climbing up to get. 

You see, he climbs by help of a sort of hoop around the 
tree, and around his body ; and although it looks impossible to 
us, he does it easily, and as fast as you would go up on a ladder. 
At his side hangs the gourd, which he means to fill with sap. 




HOME OF UPPER CLASS LITTLE FOLK. 



i 7 8 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



When he reaches the top he cuts a gash in the stem, and 
catches a quart of a white juice that gushes out. The next day 
he goes up again, and cuts a new place, and so he goes on till 
the season is over. In one picture you see he is nearly at the 
top The trees are often fifty feet high, and the man looks 
like a big monkey when he gets up there. 

I have shown you two or three kinds of houses where the 
little people of India live, but they have been rather poor ones. 




BRIDGE. 



I will show you one more thatched hut, and then I shall show 
you a really elegant one, a palace, in fact. 

On page 182 is the cottage, with its queer lattice windows, and 
on page 177 the palace, with beautiful bay-windows and balconies. 
Could there be a greater contrast ? Yet there is quite as great 
difference in the people. 

But in spite of its grandeur, there is one thing that looks 



CINDERELLA. 



i8o 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



strange to us, and that is the lower story, which is furnished 
with awnings and a raised walk, and is apparently used for 
trade. 

Now I want to tell you a story, one that has been told a 
thousand times in Indian homes, and that not only the children, 
but the women and the men also, will gather around to listen to. 

But first you will be glad to hear that your old friend Cinder- 
ella is well known in India. Indeed, in one shape or another, 

that story is 
told almost 
everywh er e. 
On page 179 is 
a picture of her 
as she looks 
in France. 
Should you 
like to hear 
how the Little 
Glass Slipper 
seems in 
Hindu dress? 
Listen : 

" Once upon a time there was a Hindu Rajah, w r ho had an 
only daughter, who was born with a golden necklace. In this 
necklace was her soul, and if it were taken off and worn by 
another the princess would die. Once on a birthday, the Rajah 
gave his daughter a pair of slippers, with ornaments of gold 
and gems on them. The princess went out upon a mountain to 
pluck flowers that grew there, and while stooping to pick them, 
one of her slippers fell off, and dropped into a forest below. 




CINDERELLA IN INDIA. 



181 



"A Prince who was hunting in the forest, picked up the lost 
slipper, and was so charmed with it that he desired to make its 
owner his wife. So he made his wish known everywhere, but 
nobody came to claim the slipper, and the poor Prince grew 
very unhappy. At last some people from the Rajah's country 
heard of it, and told the Prince where to find the Rajah's 
daughter. He went there and asked for her, and they were 

married. 

Some time f c^T^ 
after, another , r y 
wife ofthePri nee, -'7 
being jealous, 
stole the golden 
necklace, and put 
it on herself, and 
the Rajah's 
daughter died. 
But her body did 
not change, nor 
her face lose its 
bloom, and the 
Prince went 
every day to see her, for he loved her much, though she was 
dead. At last, however, he found out the secret of the 
necklace, got it back and put it on her neck, when her soul at 
once was born in her, and she came to life, and lived happy ever 
after." 

Of course this is merely the outline of the story, but now I 
will give you one from a book full by Miss Frere, called " Old 
Deccan Days." It is 





CLIMBING THE PALM TREE. 



ALMOST UP. 



I 82 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



" The Brahmin and the Tiger. 

" Once upon a time a Brahmin who was walking along the 
road, came upon an iron cage, in which a great Tiger had been 
shut up by the villagers who caught him. 




ANOTHER HOME. 



" As the Brahmin passed by the Tiger called out and said to him : 
"< Brother Brahmin ! Brother Brahmin ! have pity on me and 

let me out of this cage, for one minute, only to drink a little 

water, for I am dying of thirst.' 



THE BAN Y AX TREE 'S OPEVION. 



183 



"The Brahmin answered, 1 No, I will not ; for if I let you out 
of the cage you will eat me." 

" ' father of mercy ! ' answered the Tiger, ' in truth that I 
will not. I will never be so ungrateful ; only let me out that I 
may drink some water and return." 

" Then the Brahmin took pity on him and opened the cage 
door ; but no sooner had he done so than the Tiger, jumping out, 
said : ' Now I will eat you first, and drink the water afterward.' 

" But the Brahmin said, 4 Only do not kill me hastily. Let me 
first ask the opinion of six, and if ali of them say it is just and 
fair that you should put me to death, then I am willing to die.' 

" ' Very well ' answered the Tiger, 1 it shall be as you say ; we 
will first ask the opinion of six.' 

" So the Brahmin and the Tiger walked on till they came to a 
Banyan tree, and the Brahman said to it : 

" 4 Banyan tree ! Banyan tree ! hear and give judgment.' 

" ' On what must I give judgment ? ' asked the Banyan tree. 

" ' This Tiger,' said the Brahmin 1 begged me to let him out of 
his cage, to drink a little water, and he promised not to hurt me 
if I did so ; but now that I have let him out, he wishes to eat 
me. Is it just that he should do so or no ? ' 

" The Banyan tree answered : ' Men often come to take shelter 
in the cool shade under my boughs from the scorching rays of 
the sun ; but when they have rested, they cut and break my 
pretty branches, and wantonly scatter my leaves. Let the Tiger 
eat the man, for men are an ungrateful race.' 

"At these words the Tiger would have instantly killed the 
Brahmin, but the Brahmin said : ' Tiger, Tiger, you must not kill 
me yet, for you promised that we should first hear the judgment 
of six.' 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



" * Very well,' said the Tiger, and they went on their way. 
After awhile they met a Camel. 

" ' Sir Camel ! Sir Camel ! ' cried the Brahmin, ' hear and give 
judgment.' 

" ' On what shall I give judgment ?' asked the Camel. 

" And the Brahmin related how the Tiger had begged him to 
open the cage door, and promised not to eat him if he did so, and 
how he had afterwards determined to break his word, and asked 
if that were just or no. 

" The Camel replied : ' When I was young and strong, and could 
do much work, my master took care of me and gave me good 
food ; but now that I am old, and have lost all my strength in 
his service, he overloads me and starves me, and beats me with- 
out mercy. Let the Tiger eat the man, for men are an unjust 
and cruel race.' 

" The Tiger would then have killed the Brahmin, but the lat- 
ter said : ' Stop, Tiger, for we must first hear the judgment of 
six.' 

" So they both went again on their way. At a little distance 
they found a Bullock lying by the roadside. The Brahmin said 
to him: 'Brother Bullock! Brother Bullock! hear and give 
judgment.' 

" ' On what must I give judgment ? ' asked the Bullock. 

" The Brahmin answered : ' I found this Tiger in a cage, and 
he prayed me to open the door and let him out to drink a little 
water, and promised not to kill me if I did so ; but when I had 
let him out, he resolved to put me to death. Is it fair he should 
do so or no ? ' 

" The Bullock said : ' When I was able to work my master fed 
me well, and tended me carefully ; but now I am old he has for- 



THE EAGLE'S OPINION. 



I8 5 



gotten all I did for him, and left me by the roadside to die. Let 
the Tiger eat the man, for men have no pity.' 

" Three out of six had given judgment against the Brahmin, 
but still he did not lose all hope, and determined to ask the 
other three. 

" They next met an Eagle flying through the air, to whom 
the Brahmin cried, ' Eagle ! Great Eagle ! hear and give judg- 
ment.' 

" ' On what must I give judgment ? ' asked the Eagle. 

" The Brahmin stated the case, but the Eagle answered, 
' Whenever men see me they try to shoot me : they climb the 
rocks and steal away my little ones. Let the Tiger eat the man, 
for men are the persecutors of the earth.' 

" Then the Tiger began to roar, and said, 'The judgment of 
all is against you, Brahmin.' 

" But the Brahmin answered, ' Stay yet a little longer, for two 
others must first be asked.' 

" After this they saw an Alligator, and the Brahmin related 
the matter to him, hoping for a more favorable verdict. 

" But the Alligator said, ' Whenever I put my nose out of the 
water, men torment me and try to kill me. Let the Tiger eat the 
man, for as long as men live we shall have no rest.' 

" The Brahmin gave himself up as lost, but again he prayed 
the Tiger to have patience, and let him ask the opinion of the 
sixth judge. 

" Now the sixth was a Jackal. The Brahmin told his story, 
and said to him: ' Uncle Jackal ! Uncle Jackal ! say what is your 
judgment.' 

" The Jackal replied : ' It is impossible for me to decide who is 
in the right and who in the wrong unless I see the exact posi- 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



tion in which you were when the dispute began. Show me the 
place.' 

" So the Brahmin and the Tiger returned to the place where 
they first met, and the Jackal went with them. When they got 
there the Jackal said, 1 Now Brahmin, show me exactly where 
you stood.' 

" ' There,' said the Brahmin, standing by the iron tiger-cage. 
" ' Exactly there, was it? ' asked the Jackal. 
" 1 Exactly there,' replied the Brahmin. 

Where was the Tiger then?' asked the Jackal. 
" ' In the cage,', answered the Tiger. 

" ' How do you mean ? ' said the Jackal, ' how were you within 
the cage ? which way were you looking ? ' 

" Why, I stood so,' said the Tiger, jumping into the cage, ' and 
my head was on this side.' , 

" ' Very good,' said the Jackal, ' but I cannot judge without 
understanding the whole matter exactly. Was the cage door 
open or shut ? ' 

" ' Shut and bolted,' said the Brahmin. 

" ' Then shut and bolt it,' said the Jackal. 

" When the Brahmin had done this the Jackal said : 1 O you 
wicked and ungrateful Tiger ! when the good Brahmin opened 
your cage door, is to eat him the only return you would make? 
Stay there then for the rest of your days, for no one will ever let 
you out again. Proceed on your journey, friend Brahmin. Your 
road lies that way, and mine this.' 

" So saying, the Jackal ran off in one direction, and the Brah- 
min went rejoicing on his way in the other." 

" There! How do you like a Hindu story? You see the jackal 



THE WISE BEGUM. 



i88 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



is always the most knowing and cunning of animals in their 
stories, as the fox is in stories of other lands." 

I want to show you a picture of a native Indian Queen, or 
Begum and tell you a little about her. 

Here she is, dressed in her royal robes. You may not think 
she is very pretty, but if the old saying is true that " Handsome 
is that handsome does," she ought to be a beauty. 

She wa.s much in advance of the people about her, and by her 
wise government she improved her kingdom, paid off its debts, 
started schools and orphan asylums, stopped the trade in slaves, 
made roads, and in fact did her best to make her people more 
comfortable. 

For ten years she worked twelve hours a day, living in a tent, 
and going about among the people. 

Strangest of all, she began a revolt against women and girls 
being shut up in Harems. She never wore a veil, and brought 
up many young girls to do as she did. 

Honors and praises were lavished on her by the English, and 
when she died, after ruling her kingdom of Bhopal nearly twenty 
years, her only daughter became Begum. 



THE FATHER SPINS 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE BABY IN DRESSING-GOWN ; THE LITTLE THIBETAN. 

People of the South do not have all the hard times in the 
world. There's another little fellow away up north, who spends 
half his life under a snowbank. 

Think of that ! From the time cold weather begins in the fall, 
till the spring's sun has melted twelve feet (or more) of snow, he 
never puts his nose, much less his toes, out of the house. 

Nor does his papa! We might say the same of mamma, no 
doubt, if it were not for the yaks. If she did not go out every 
day and milk the yaks, and bring in the rich fresh milk to eat, 
how could they get along all that long, dreary winter ? 

You should think the father would do this work — I know ; and 
your father would, but things are not the same all over the world, 
and in Thibet the women do the hard work. 

So, as the Thibetan baby's papa is not obliged to go out, he 
prefers to stay in. This might seem rather queer to us, if we did 
not know something about the weather outside, which I'll tell 
you by and by. He is more comfortable inside, so he sits by the 
fire, and eats, and sleeps, and — spins ! 

I suppose he thinks it more manly to spin than to go out and 
look after the yaks, any way he does it. 

Spinning is the great business of life in this family, especially 



190 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



during the long, dreary winter. Each one, children and all, car- 
ries a bundle of wool in his breast, and a spindle in his hand, and 
keeps them in use when not doing something else. 

In the fall they made everything ready for winter ; they got in 
their crops, made the curd and dried it, and hung bunches of 
hay high up in the branches of trees, so that when the snow was 
very deep some of the animals might reach it to eat and keep 
themselves from starving. 

Then a good stock of fuel was laid in, and when it grew cold, 
and snow began to fall, so that the passes ov§r the mountains 
were blocked up and no travelers could come through, each fam- 
ily shut itself up in its own low stone house, with walls four feet 
thick ; doors were shut, fires stirred up, and what was one day 
a lively town of perhaps three hundred houses, on the next 
day looked like so many deserted mounds in the fast falling 
snow. 

But every morning and evening the mothers come to the 
doors and call, " Toosh ! To-o-osh ! To-o-o-o-sh ! " 

Now Toosh, or the yak, is a sulky looking creature, who takes 
life very hard, and always looks sour. If she feels like it, when 
she hears the call she comes grunting and grumbling up to be 
milked, but if the idea doesn't strike her favorably she simply 
refuses to move. 

That does not settle the matter ; women who do men's work 
have manly accomplishments ; they can throw stones ! and what's 
more, they can hit every time. So say the travelers. 

Well then, Toosh sometimes has to be reminded, by a stone 
against the ribs, that she is ex A to start, and then she comes 

up to be milked. When that is over she is dismissed, and wan- 
ders about with the herd wherever she chooses, getting to eat 



HORSES WEAR FURS. 



I 9 I 



anything that is to be found under the snow, and never being 
fed by the people. No wonder she looks sour ; life must be 
hard indeed to a Thibetan yak in winter. 

But let us go into the house and see the little people. Enter 
a low door, go through a dark passage into a room nearly as cold 
as out doors, and dark as pitch. This is the store-room where 
food is kept, and fuel to keep the living room warm. 

Into that room we climb by a sort of ladder, the rudest you 
can imagine, a mere notched stick. 

No sooner are we in than we wish to rush out again, such a 
dreadful, smothering, foul place it is ! Here in one low room are 
the whole family ; eating, or smoking, but spinning of course. 

Hold your breath a moment and look for the little ones. 
There are two or three dull looking children in dressing gowns 
spinning away like the grown-ups, and there's the baby. He 
looks contented, sucking away at some sweet morsel tied up in 
a rag. 

What is it ? sugar? No indeed, it's a queer mixture, to make 
baby brave. It is meat, dried and ground to powder, then 
mixed with fresh blood. 

Ugh ! let's get out of this ! There are pleasanter things to tell 
about the Thibetan little folks, else I should never have men- 
tioned them. Anyone except a native would prefer to be out- 
side if he did freeze. 

It's a good country to freeze in, too. Snow is twelve feet and 
more deep from December to April, and the winds are some- 
thing terrific. Houses at all exposed have to be held down by 
big stones, and travelers die in great numbers. 

Animals suffer too ; horses have to be closely dressed in felt 
blankets, with their heads wrapped in furs. Camels and yaks 



1 



192 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



are tougher, but they get loaded down with icicles that touch 
the ground, and rattle together as they walk. 

They look very funny, as though preserved in sugar candy, as 
one traveler says, but they do not like it themselves. Some- 
times a whole herd of yaks will be frozen in swimming a river. 
Hue, who passed through this dreary country in winter, saw 
such a sight. The ice was so clear that he could see the whole 
animal, and they looked exactly as if swimming ; but they were 
frozen stiff, and had been dead a long time. 

Other delights await travelers who visit Thibet in the winter. 
They can hardly get enough to eat to keep them alive, because 
everything freezes so solid they cannot bite it. Then the glare 
of the snow nearly blinds them. They have to wear shades, or 
spectacles of woven yak's hair. But the greatest thing is to 
keep warmth enough in their bodies to live. No matter how 
many wraps they put on, no matter how many coats and 
blankets and furs they have, they are all the time freezing their 
noses and cheeks, and what seems strangest of all they suffer 
intensely from cold eyelids ! 

Even the plants of the country are dressed in wool. Hooker, 
who gathered plants there, found them, with flowers and leaves, 
protected by great clubs of soft white wool ; and the mosses are 
brittle as glass, and look like frosted silver ; most exquisite they 
are, too. 

No wonder the Thibetan buries himself in the snow,, and never 
trusts his nose to those nipping blasts, and no wonder that baby 
has animal food; he needs it. 

Buttered tea is a choice dish to little folks in these under- 
ground houses. Perhaps you would like to try the receipt. 
Here it is : Churn a handful of tea-leaves with salt, butter, and 



SPIDER TENTS. 



193 



soda, thicken it with oatmeal, then boil it, and drink it down 
scalding hot. Then you can fancy yourself in Thibet, if you 
think you'd like it. 

They eat other things, sticky balls of barley flour mixed with 
water, cakes fried in lard, cheese curd, parched wheat and corn, 
a few potatoes or turnips, and if very well-to-do, eggs, or chick- 
ens, or even yak's flesh. They eat little meat, and when they 
do they take it between meals, as we eat an apple. They never 
regard it as part of a regular meal. 

To dine, is needed a dish or two, an earthen pot, a few wooden 
spoons, and a wooden cup, which every one carries in the breast 
of his gown for himself. There is little fuss about the meal, and 
no ceremony ; every one helps himself. 

But it is not always winter even in Thibet. Summer comes, 
and the country is covered with wandering Thibetans, who live 
in queer-looking black tents, which look like an enormous black 
spider, with his long legs sprawled out over the surrounding 
country. It is the ropes which hold up the tent that look like 
the legs of the spiders. 

Around this tent the family will be seen, the father lounging 
on a pile of fuel by the door, the children without many clothes, 
crawling around, or perhaps burrowing like so many moles, the 
baby adorned with most of the wealth of the family, and the 
mother alone at work. 

Or they will be met on the march carrying salt over the 
mountains, when every one that goes has his load. Yaks carry 
big ones, but sheep and dogs have each two little bags of 
salt, and every youngster that is big enough to walk has his load 
of salt too. 

How do the youngsters dress? Well, just like the grown-ups, 



194 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



in a sort of gown fastened around the waist with a sash, from 
which generally hangs a purse or bag. 

To this gown the girls and women add a short sort of sack, 
and they wear their hair hanging in two long braids often fas- 
tened together in front. Lower class women wear a yellow cap, 
but great ladies (and there are great ladies even among the 
Thibetans) wear an elegant coronet of pearls. 

These ladies do not wear a veil like most women of Asia, but 
they do what is worse, to hide their faces from strangers, they 
daub themselves with a sticky black stuff which makes them 
look hideous. 

A queer headdress worn by some Thibetan women is a braid 
of yaks hair fastened to the back of the head, which stands out 
like the " glory " around the head of a saint ; and another is a 
band across the forehead, from which hang coins and orna- 
ments, down to the eyebrows. 

If a man of Thibet wears a jewel, it is one ear-ring, in his left 
ear. 

You have heard about some rather funny punishments for poor 
scholars, but the oddest is found in Thibet. A priest dressed in 
his robes (very gorgeous, too, they are, of yellow silk with 
sometimes red velvet boots, and mitre on the head) was hearing 
two boys recite. 

He questioned them very gravely, and one answered pretty 
well, but the other evidently was a lazy youngster, and had not 
studied enough. So the master made him get upon his hands 
and knees, a cloth was thrown over his back, and he was supposed 
to be a horse ! 

The good boy then got upon his back, spurred, and kicked, 
and cuffed him, till he galloped around and back to the teacher 



THEY RUN OUT THE TONGUE. 



195 



again. Then the good boy got down, and questions began 
again. 

They have some amusements. They make a great fuss over 
New Year's, beginning at midnight before, when a whole city 
breaks out into the wildest confusion, with music, and every- 
body goes into the streets, offering his neighbor a sort of dump- 
ling to eat, which may be nice to a Thibetan, but is said to be 
anything but good to others. 

Then on New Year's day there are great rejoicings, and child- 
ren go about singing carols. They wear green robes, with little 
bells which jingle as they move. 

It is amusing to see them sing, for they keep time like a pen- 
dulum, moving back and forth, but when they come to a refrain 
at the end of a verse, they stamp with their iron-bound shoes 
and sing with great spirit. 

The reward they get is a little ball of butter, or a fried 
cake. 

Of course the Thibetan baby is taught manners, and he salutes 
a friend in a way to make you laugh. For ordinary respectful 
greeting, he runs out his tongue ; but if he wishes to be very po- 
lite, he uncovers his head and scratches his right ear at the same 
instant that he puts out his tongue ! 

What a sight must be the meeting of a party of friends ! 

These people, too, have a convenient way of sending presents 
to their absent friends, and to those who have passed away from 
earth. They get of the priests (lamas they are called) paper 
figures of horses all saddled and bridled, or of anything they 
think their friends would like. 

Then instead of burning them as the Chinese do, they take 
them on a windy day to some high hill, and let the wind carry 



196 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



them away. They believe that Budha will turn them into liv- 
ing creatures and send them on their way. 

The most curious thing in all Thibet is the " Feast of Flow- 
ers," a great festival which takes place soon after New Year's. 
It is a sort of a grand show of figures and pictures, every one of 
which is made of butter, as a modeler in our country makes 
them of clay. 

There are hundreds of figures, colored like life, and so well, 
one almost believes they are real. All sorts of scenes, of peo- 
ple in different Asiatic dresses, animals, birds, and everything 
else ; hunting scenes, scenes in the life of Budha, and in ordi- 
nary life of the people about them. 

On the great evening, all these figures are displayed on frame- 
work near the convent, where they are made, for they are all 
arranged by the priests. The people come to see them, and to 
have a great time generally ; they dance, and sing, and shout, 
and carry on wildly, and before morning every figure is smashed 
and scattered on the ground, and the three months' work of 
twenty priests is entirely destroyed. Queer idea of a good 
time, isn't it ? 

Another festival of the New Year takes place on the first new 
moon in February, and is a sort of masquerade. This is one 
of the funniest performances you can imagine. 

First comes a dance by twenty-four priests, dressed up like 
various animals, as bears, stags, and others. After this is a 
dance of skeletons, or people dressed to look like them, who 
throw flour in the faces of the audience as they pass. When 
they are gone the animals come back, dance again, and six grave 
and dignified priests perform a great sacrifice, which ends the 
festival. 



A THIBETAN PAPA. 



198 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



The people of this strange country, not only the little people, 
but the big ones too, are firm believers in magic, and all sorts 
of witchcraft. Their stories, told around the fireside, show 
this. 

Here is a story for you, taken from a collection of tales called 
" Sagas from the Far East." But first you must look at a pic- 
ture of a Thibetan guide, as he travels over the country on his 
dromedary (on page 197). 

" The Turbulent Subject. 

" Long ago there lived in a district called Brschiss, a haughty, 
turbulent man. As he feared no man, and obeyed no laws, the 
Khan of that country sent to him, saying, ' Since thou wilt obey 
no laws, thou canst not remain in my country. Get thee gone 
hence, or submit to the laws !' 

" But the turbulent man chose rather to go forth in exile than 
submit to the laws. So he went wandering forth till he came 
to a vast plain, covered with feather grass, and a palm tree 
standing in the midst, with a dead horse lying beneath it. 
Under the shade of the palm tree he sat down, saying, 1 The 
head of this horse will be useful for food when my provisions 
are exhausted.' So he bound it into his waist-scarf, and climbed 
up into the palm tree to pass the night. 

" He had scarcely composed himself to sleep when there was 
a great noise of shouting and yelling, which woke him up ; and 
behold, there came hither toward the palm tree from the south- 
ern side of the steppe, a herd of demons, having ox-hide caps 
on their heads, and riding on horses covered with ox-hides. 
Nor had they long settled themselves, before another herd of 
demons came trooping toward the palm tree from the northern 



A MAGICAL GOBLET. 



199 



side of the steppe ; and these wore paper caps, and rode on 
horses wearing paper coverings. 

" All these demons now danced and feasted together, with 
great howling and shouting. The man looked down upon them 
from the tree top full of terror, but also full of envy at their 
enjoyment. As he leant over to watch them, the horse's head 
tumbled out cf his girdle right among them, and scattered 
them in dire alarm in every direction, not one of them daring 
to look up to see whence it came. It was not till the morning 
light broke, however, that the man ventured to come down. 
When he did so, he said, ' Last night there was much feasting 
and drinking going on here ; surely there must be something 
left from such a banquet ! ' Searching through the long feather 
grass all about, he discovered a gold goblet full of koumis, from 
which he drank long draughts, but it continued always full. At 
last he turned it down upon the ground, and immediately all 
manner of meats and cakes appeared. ' This goblet is indeed 
larder and cellar!' said the man; and taking it with him, he 
went on his way. 

" Farther on he met a man brandishing a thick stick as he 
walked. 

" ' What is your stick good for that you brandish it so 
proudly? ' asked the turbulent man. 

" My stick is so much good, that when I say to it * Fly, that 
man has stolen somewhat of me ; fly after him and kill him, and 
bring me back my goods, it instantly flies at the man, and 
brings my things back.' 

" ' Yours is a good stick, but see my goblet ; whatever you de- 
sire of meat or drink, this same goblet provides for the wishing. 
Will you exchange your stick against my goblet ? ' 



200 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



" 'That will I gladly/ rejoined the traveler. 

" But the turbulent man having once made the change, cried 
to the stick, ' Fly, that man has stolen my goblet ; fly after him 
and kill him, and bring me back my goblet ! ' 

" Before the words had left his lips the stick flew through the 
air, killed the man, and brought back the goblet. Thus he had 
both the stick and the goblet. 

" Farther on he saw a man coming who carried an iron ham- 
mer. 

"'What is your hammer good for?' inquired he as they 
met. 

" ' My hammer is so good/ replied the traveler, ' that when I 
strike it nine times on the ground, immediately there rises an 
iron tower nine stories high.' 

'"Yours is a good hammer/ replied the turbulent man, 'but 
look at my goblet ; whatever you desire of meat or drink, this 
same goblet provides for the wishing. Will you change your 
hammer against my goblet ? ' 

" ' That will I gladly/ replied the wayfarer. 

" But the turbulent man having once effected the exchange, 
cried to the stick, ' Fly, that man has stolen my goblet ; fly after 
him, and kill him and bring me back the goblet.' The command 
was executed as soon as spoken, and the turbulent man thus 
had the hammer as well as the stick and the goblet. 

" Farther on he saw a man carrying a goat's-leather bag. 

" ' What is your bag good for ? ' he inquired as they met. 

" ' My bag is so good that I have but to shake it and there 
comes a shower of rain, but if I shake it hard then it rains in 
torrents.' 

" ' Yours is a good bag/ replied the turbulent man, ' but see 



OJ HER MAGIC ARTICLES. 



20 1 



my goblet ; whatsoever you desire of meat or drink, it provides 
you for the wishing. Will you exchange your bag against my 
goblet ? ' 

" ' That will I gladly,' answered the traveler. 

" But no sooner had the turbulent man possession of the bag, 
than he sent his stick as before, to recover the goblet also. 

" Provided with all these magic articles, he had no fear in re- 
turning to his own country in spite of the command of the Khan. 
Arrived there about midnight, he established himself behind the 
Khan's palace, and striking the earth nine times 'with his iron 
hammer, there immediately appeared an iron fortress, nine stories 
high, towering far above the palace. 

" In the morning the Khan said, 'Last night I heard knock, 
knock, knock several times. What will it have been ? ' So the 
Khanin rose and looked out, and answered him saying, ' Behold 
a great iron fortress, nine stories high, stands right over against 
the palace.' 

" ' This is some work of that turbulent rebel, I would wager,' 
replied the Khan, full of wrath. 1 And he has brought it to pass 
that we must now measure our strength to the uttermost.' 
Then he rose and called together all his subjects, and bid them 
each bring their share of fuel to a great fire which he kindled all 
round the iron fortress ; all the smiths, too, he summoned to 
bring their bellows and blow it, and thus it was turned into a 
fearful furnace. 

Meanwhile the turbulent man sat quite unconcerned in the 
ninth story, with his mother and his son, occupied with feasting 
on the viands which the golden goblet provided. When the fire 
began to reach the eighth story, the man's mother caught a little 
alarm, saying, ' Evil will befall us if this fire which the Khan has 



202 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



kindled round us be left unchecked.' But he answered, 'Mother, 
fear nothing, I have the means of settling that.' 

"Than he drew out his goat's-leather bag, went with it up to 
the highest turret of the fortress, and shook it till the rain 
flowed, and pretty well extinguished the fire ; but he also went 
on shaking it till the rain fell in such torrents, that presently the 
whole neighborhood was inundated, and not only the embers 
of the fire but the smith's bellows were washed away, and the 
people and the Khan himself had much ado to escape with their 
lives. 

" At last the gushing waters had worked a deep moat round 
the fortress in which the turbulent man lived henceforth secure, 
and the Khan durst admonish him no more." 



MOTHER'S BOOT FOR A CRADLE. 



203 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE BUTTERED BABY ; THE LITTLE TARTAR. 

The next queer baby in that land of queer things, is — but- 
tered ! 

I'm not joking, it is a fact. For the first few days of his life 
he is kept covered with that greasy stuff. And, worse than 
that ! when he goes out he is carried in his mother's boot. The 
oddest cradle we've heard, of yet, I'm sure. 

And mamma goes barefoot ? Far from it ! the boot is in its 
place on her feet ; and what's more, she may have an older 
brother or sister in the other boot at the same time. 

But the boots are different from ours ; they are made of 
cloth, and the part above the ankle is big enough to carry a 
child four or five years old. Walking must be a funny operation 
(to see), with a youngster in each boot. 

The cradle is not the only strange thing in this little fellow's 
life ; in fact, it is just the beginning. As soon as he knows 
enough to hold on tightly to something, he is put on to a horse. 
At first it is behind an older person, and he holds on to his 
clothes, and takes his first lesson in riding. 

This is the most important matter in life to him, for he's a 
Tartar baby, and a Tartar is almost a part of his horse. As 
soon as the youngster can hold on alone, he dispenses with 
help, and rides and practices so much, that at last it is impos- 

1 
I 



204 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



sible for a horse to throw him (without falling himself). Here 
are two of them on their pony. 

So much of his life is on horseback, that he is awkward 
enough on foot ; he is bow-legged, and his walk is something 
like that of a sailor on shore. His favorite games are played 

on horseback, he gets 
his wife in a horse- 
back race, and he can 
sleep on a horse. 

The " manners" he 
learns are curious : that 
it is ill-bred to laugh, 
and undignified to 
move quickly. I don't 
suppose he would run 
to save his life. Then 
he must not spit on a 
fire, and it's a serious 
matter to blow out a 
light. To greet a 
friend in a polite way 
he must put his arm 
around him, and lay 
his chin on his friend's 
right shoulder, while the friend lays his chin' on his right shoul- 
der. Droll enough they look, too, to western barbarians, like 
you and me. 

The walk he must cultivate, if he wishes to be elegant, is a 
waddle, an imitation of the gait of a goose ! And to take his 
tea in a truly stylish manner is an art. The right elbow is 




HE LEARNS OTHER THINGS. 



205 




TARTAR SOLDIER. 



placed in the left hand, the cup is held in the fingers of the 
right hand, and with one graceful swing is carried to the lips. 
Try it, and see how funny it is. 

He learns something else besides manners. He learns to use 



2o6 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



the bow and arrow, and the gun, and no doubt it is his highest 
ambition to get to be a soldier, and look like this interesting 
person on the last page in his fighting array. 




In the towns the boy goes to school, where he studies aloud, 
putting his fingers in his ears so that he will not be distracted 



HE BAWLS OUT HIS LESSON. 



207 



by his neighbor's voice, and rocking from side to side as he 
bawls out his lessons. 

See what a queer place is a Tartar school. The boys keep 
their hats on, and their shoes off ; you see the shoes in a row in 
the front of the picture. On the column on one side you see 
hanging the school- 
bagSj in which they 
carry their books. 

The master does not 
show in this picture, 
but he sits a little one 
side on the floor, with 
a bundle of switches 
beside him ; and if the 
boys do not behave 
well, and above all, do 
not study up loud and 
clear, you can guess 
what they get. 
. See what curious 
ornaments on the 
walls, dragons, or some 
other imaginary crea- 
tures «on the ceiling, 
and a suitable text or 

motto in the strange Tartar characters around the top of the wall. 

How does this boy dress? He looks like a bundle of bed- 
clothes, and so does his father, and his mother, and his sister. 
Here she is. Pretty creature, isn't she ? 

The tailor is an unknown object to the little Tartar; his 




TARTAR GIRL. 



208 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



mother makes his clothes as well as his father's, hats, boots, and 
all, and the shape of his coat is the pattern so much worn in 
Asia ; the dressing-gown style. 

The boy and his papa look exactly alike, except as to size ; 
and an elegant dress for a Tartar gentleman is a silk kalat, or 
dressing-gown of different colors, a fine costly shawl around 
the waist, a tall cap turned up at the sides, and green leather 
boots, with overshoes or slippers to wear outside. 

But if papa looks like a bundle of bedding, mamma looks 
even worse. You must know that it is very vulgar for a lady to 
go out at all in a city. Ladies of rank are never seen in public 
places, and those who have to go into the streets disguise them- 
selves so that their own mothers wouldn't know them. They 
muffle themselves up in a big cloak, with the empty sleeves 
hanging down outside, and then wear a veil of horsehair over 
the face. 

Well what do you suppose Tartar boys do for pockets ? for not 
one do they have in their clumsy double-gown sort of garments. 
They use the folds of their gown, and they manage to stow 
away plenty of things there too. I have even read of cooking 
utensils and eatables carried there. As if your father should 
carry a frying-pan and a coffee-pot around with him. 

There's one thing in which a Tartar youngster will beat the 
world, at least of his size, and that is in eating. He is particu- 
larly fond of fat and grease, and a regular drink is melted butter. 
It must be that the buttering he got in babyhood was to " form 
his taste." 

A Tartar boy was once noticed (by a traveler) picking up bits 
of tallow that had dropped from the candle, and eating them as 
you would eat bits of sugar. He thought he would see how 



HE ATE UP THE CANDLE. 



209 



much the child would eat (he was about five years old), so he 
gave him a whole candle. 

The boy was delighted ! he munched it down as though it was 
a stick of candy, and looked for more. The gentleman gave him 
another candle ; he ate that ; then a third, and he finished that. 
The host began to regard this as a somewhat expensive treat, so 
the next gift was a lot of several pounds of sour, frozen butter, 
about the most dreadful stuff you can think of. The Tartar boy 
doted on butter, and he ate it greedily, as though the candles 
that had gone before were only to begin with. The traveler 
was bound to settle him at last, so he offered him a large piece 
of yellow soap. 

He refused it you think? Indeed he did not ; he ate it, every 
crumb, and was ready for more ! What a horrible boy ! But his 
father sets him the example. Monstrous stories are told of the 
quantity of meat a Tartar will eat at once. 

I haven't told you how they live. Most of them spend their 
lives in tents, traveling from one place to another, and they 
often have thousands of cattle and horses to care for, since their 
wealth is in animals. 

When they move to a new place, the tent is taken down, 
everything packed on to camels, and away they go ; men and 
big boys on horseback, women and little folk on camels. Some- 
times the camel that carries this load has two big baskets slung 
to his sides, in which mamma and the babies ride, but better is 
a big round sort of box, padded and stuffed to be comfortable, 
and set up like a big nest on a huge camel. In this the little 
ones can run about, or rather walk about, and not fall out, as 
the sides are high, and the mother herself can change her posi- 
tion if she likes. 



2IO 



LI TILE PEOPLE OE ASIA. 



By the way, though the camel is a four-footed baby he's an 
interesting fellow, and you may like to hear a little about him. 
In the first place he's perhaps the ugliest looking youngster in 
the world. He is tall and awkward, all legs and big black eyes 
a " wabbly " neck ancl almost no body at all. He can't stand up 
and he is never playful, as are all other young creatures, from a 
kitten to an elephant. No; the camel baby takes life as seri- 
ously as his mamma, and life always is a serious affair to a 
camel. 

His training begins before he's a month old, by teaching him 
to bear light loads, and he gets on well enough following his 
mother, and living principally on milk, till he reaches his first 
birthday; then comes a change. 

On the day he is one year old, the little camel's master an- 
nounces to him that he must turn over a new leaf. He solemnly 
boxes the youngster's ears, and says : 

" Henceforth thou drinkest no drop of milk," and the baby is 
a baby no more ; he must eat with the grown-ups. 

You hardly suspect so large and solemn an animal of being a 
cry-baby, but the camel deserves the name. If one is over- 
loaded, or gets tired, he will cry in a shrill, human sort of a way 
that is unpleasant to hear ; and if a camel's baby is taken away 
or dies, she will shed tears as well as howl over it. 

These queer people have a funny way of treating the horses 
of which they are so fond. They keep them saddled, and tightly 
girt, day and night, and many of them will not let their horses 
lie down. They say if a horse lies down the corn he eats will 
settle in his legs and feet and make him lame. 

When he is put in the stable he is covered from head to tail 
with several thick cloths, even in the hottest weather. 



A ROOM IS A PRISON. 



211 



The wandering Tartars, who spend their lives in a tent, feel 
that a room is a prison. So when they are obliged to go into 




INSIDE THE TENT. 



a country more civilized than their own, and have to stay at a 
hotel, they pitch their tent as if on the desert, tie their animals 



2 12 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



around, and cook and eat as they are accustomed to do. They 
can't be happy under a roof. 

Perhaps you think a tent cannot be very comfortable, but look 




TARTAR DANCER. 



at this one. You see it is as convenient as a room in a house. 
It has rich carpets, silk curtains, cushions and ornaments, and a 
window in the top. (See page 21 1.) 



A TARTAR BOY'S GAME. 



213 



I must tell you of a favorite game in Tartary, played by the 
grown-up Tartar boy. It is all on horseback of course. The 
body of a goat is put on the ground, and the object is to pick it 
up without leaving the saddle, and then to keep it from all the 
other players who are trying to snatch it away. 

It is wonderful to see how they ride without touching the bri- 
dle, wrestling with three or four for the prize, jumping banks 
and ditches, dodging and twisting about, and never falling off. 

A great amusement here too, is the dance, where hired per- 
formers entertain the guests. See this evening party in the 
house of a rich Tartar. (Page 212.) 

But of course the main entertainment of a Tartar's life is 
smoking. Here is a solemn party of gentlemen enjoying a so- 
cial smoke, all seated on the floor of a very fine room indeed. 
What an important business they make of it ! (Page 214.) 

Of course the little Tartars (not to speak of the big ones) are 
fond of stories. All little people enjoy hearing them, but none 
so much as those who have no books or papers to read. Think 
if you never saw a story book or magazine, how you would de- 
light in a story teller ! Then you can fancy how those little tent- 
livers crowd around to listen to the tales of the wonderful things 
that happen to the heroes ; the genii, and the magical chairs, and 
purses, and swords, and other fine things that fill the stories. 

Just " make believe " you are in a Tartar tent, and listen to 
this, a real Tartar story though told in half the words, probably. 
First I will say that " crump " means crooked, and it is called 

"The Three Crump Twin-Brothers. 

" There once lived in Damascus an old man who did but just 
get a poor livelihood by making steel bows, swords, sabres, and 



214 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



knife-blades. Of thirteen children, ten died all in one year, but 
the three that remained were such odd figures that it was im- 
possible to look at them without laughing. 




IN A TARTAR HOUSE. 



" They were crooked behind and crooked before, blind of the 
left eye, lame of the right foot, and so perfectly like one another 



• 



THE CHILDREN LA UGH A T THEM. 



215 



in face, shape, and clothes, which they always wore the same 
with one another, that even their father and mother sometimes 
mistook one for the other. 

" Of the three sons the first was named Ibad, the second 
Syahouk, and the third Babekan, and these three little crump- 
backed brothers never worked in their shop but they served 
for laughing stock to all the boys and girls in the town. 

" One day as the only son of a rich merchant named Mourad, 
returned from walking with some of his play-fellows, finding 
himself more merry than usual, he leaned upon the bulk of the 
three crumps, and insulted them with so much keenness, that 
Babekan, who was then at work upon a knife-blade, lost all pa- 
tience ; he ran after those children, and singling out his princi- 
pal enemy, gave him a cut, but finding that he was pursued by 
the mob, he ran into the shop and pulled the door after him." 

[To make a long story shorter : when the Cadi came, no one 
could tell which one of the three brothers did the mischief, and 
as he did not wish to punish the innocent ones, he banished all 
three of them from Damascus forever. Now go on.] 

" Ibad, Syahouk, and Babekan were obliged to comply with 
the sentence immediately. They departed from the city, and 
having considered what they should do, Ibad and Syahouk were 
entirely for keeping together, but Babekan having represented 
to them, that, let them go where they would, so long as they 
were together they would always be the jest of the public, but 
that if they were single, they would each be infinitely less ob- 
served ; this reason prevailed over the opinion of the two. They 
parted from each other, and taking each a different road, Babe- 
kan came to Bagdad." 

[I pass over his adventures for a few years, and begin again 



2l6 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



after he had become prosperous, the owner of a cutlery shop, 
and the husband of a woman named Noho'ud]. 

" The correspondence that Babekan had in several towns of 
the East, came to the ears of his two brothers, who after having 
lived for almost five years in the utmost poverty, were at last 
met together at Derbent. 

" Here they learnt to their great joy of the prosperity of Ba- 
bekan, and not doubting but he would assist them in their want, 
they went together to Bagdad. 

" Babekan was prodigiously surprised at the sight of his broth- 
ers/' He reproached them for breaking their word and coming 
to make him a jest in Bagdad, and finally he threatened them, 
and turned them away from Bagdad, with a few pieces of gold 
to begin again. 

When Babekan went home, he told his wife about his broth- 
ers, and she tried to persuade him to be more generous with 
them. At this he got into a fearful rage, and said roughly : 

" ' I find you will be tempted to entertain them here during 
the journey I am about to make, but take notice, I would advise 
you that if you do, it shall cost you your life. I say no more. 
Look to it that you obey me.' 

Nohoud was afraid of her husband, and she said she would 
execute his orders, and he went away. 

But it happened that the two brothers, after going two days' 
journey from Bagdad, had been obliged to stop. Syahouk had 
fallen sick, and they were detained till the money was all gone, 
when they resolved to seek Babekan again. They found that 
their brother was away on a journey, but his wife was at home, 
and they went to appeal to her. 

" But though Babekan had so strictly commanded her not to 



SHE HID THEM IN THE CELLAR. 



217 



let them into her house, she was touched with their poverty and 
tears ; she let them in and set food before them. 

" It was now dark night, and they had scarcely satisfied their 
first hunger, when somebody rattled at the door. The voice of 
Babekan was a thunderbolt to his wife and brothers. They 
turned pale as death, and Nohoud, to conceal them from her 
husband's fury, hid them in a little cellar, behind five or six tubs 
of brandy. 

" Babekan grew impatient at the door: he knocked louder and 
louder every moment. At last it was opened, and Babekan, very 
angry and suspicious, after beating his wife, searched all the 
house, visiting every hole with the greatest care, but never 
thought to look behind the brandy tubs. 

• " He stayed at home till the evening of the next day, when 
about the hour of prayer he went out. His back was hardly 
turned when Nohoud ran to the cellar, but was in the utmost 
surprise at finding Ibad and Syahouk without the least sign of 
life. 

" Her perplexity increased when she considered she had no 
way of getting rid of the two bodies, but taking her resolution at 
once, she shut up the shop and ran for a foolish porter, and hav- 
ing told him that a little humpbacked man who came to her 
shop to buy knives, having died there suddenly, she feared she 
should be brought into trouble about it, she proffered him four 
sequins of gold if he would put him in a sack and throw him 
into the Tygris. 

" The porter accepted, and she took him home with her, gave 
him two sequins by way of earnest, and put only one of the 
crumps into his sack, and promised to give him the other sequin 
when she was sure he had performed his commission. 



218 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



"The porter with the crump' upon his shoulder being come to 
the bridge of Bagdad, opened his sack, shot his load into the 
river, and running back to Nohoud, ' It is done,' said he, laugh- 
ing ; ' give me the two sequins you promised me.' 

" Nohoud then went behind her counter under pretense of 
fetching him the money, but starting back with a loud cry she 
pretended to fail into a swoon. The porter was strangely sur- 
prised, and after fetching her to herself, he inquired the cause of 
her fright. 

" ' Ah ! ' said the cunning Nohoud, acting her part to a miracle, 
* Go in there and you will know the cause.' The porter went in 
and was struck as mute as a fish, when he perceived the same 
body which he thought he had thrown into the Tygris. 

" ' I am sure,' said he, ' I did throw that plaguy crooked rascal 
into the river; how then could he come hither? There must 
be witchcraft in it. However,' continued he, ' let us try if he will 
get out again.' 

" Then having put the second crump into the same sack, he 
carried him to the bridge, and choosing out the deepest part of 
the Tygris opened his sack, and threw out poor Syahouk. 

" He was again returning merrily to Nohoud, not doubting that 
his burden was gone to the bottom, when, turning the corner of 
a street, he saw coming toward him a man with a lantern in his 
hand. 

" He was ready to drop dead with fear at the sight of Babe- 
kan, who was going home. The porter dogged him a little 
while, and finding that he took the ready way to the house 
from which he had fetched the two crumps, he seized him furi- 
ously by the collar. 

"'Ah, rogue!' cried he, 'you think to make fool of me all 



HE THROWS BABEKAN IN THE RIVER. 



219 



night, do you ? You have served me this trick twice already ; 
but if you escape this time, I will be hanged.' 

" Then, being a lusty fellow, he threw his sack over Babekan's 
shoulders, and forcing him into it in spite of his teeth, tied the 
mouth of it with a strong rope, and running directly to the 
bridge, flung in poor Babekan, sack and all. 

" He walked a pretty while thereabouts, for fear the crump 
should get out agaim to cheat him of his reward ; but, hearing 
no noise, returned to the cutlaress to demand the other two 
sequins which she had promised him. 

" ' Do not fear his coming any more,' said he, the moment he 
set his foot into the house. 'The wag had a mind to make me 
his sport forever, I think ; he only pretended to be dead that 
he might make me trot my legs off ; but I have done his busi- 
ness for him now so thoroughly, that he will never come to your 
house any more, I will engage for him.' 

" Nohoud was surprised, and on questioning him he told the 
story, when she cried out that he had drowned her husband, 
and had the impudence to ask reward." She then declared she 
would go to the Cadi, and the porter said he would drag her off 
to the river, too, when the neighbors interfered to protect her. 

The porter took to his heels, but soon met three men, each 
with a load on his head, who forced him to go with them. 
They entered a dark passage, and at the end of it arrived in a 
magnificent hall. 

" But what was the porter's amazement, when by the light of 
above forty tapers, with which it was illuminated, he saw the 
crooked brothers he had thrown into the Tygris. He was seized 
with such terror that he began to shake all over his body." 

[I must tell you in a few words, that the man who had made 



220 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



him go with them to help carry the loads, was really the Caliph, 
who was fond of walking the streets of his city at night in dis- 
guise, to see for himself how his people liked the government, 
and how his laws were carried out. Oji this night he had seen 
the three bodies hauled up in the net of a fisherman, and had 
bought his load of him. The terror of the porter betrayed 
him ; and when he was questioned he told the whole story. 
The Caliph was puzzled; but, seeing signs of life in the bodies, 
all three were restored to life ; indeed, the two brothers had been 
only overcome with brandy, and Babekan half smothered by 
the sack.] 

" The Caliph having caused the three crumps to be carried 
into different chambers, had them put to bed and locked up. 
Then he prepared to divert himself at the expense of the 
crooked brothers and the cutlar woman, whom he had arrested 
at break of day. 

" To heighten his diversion, the Caliph caused to be made 
that night two suits of clothes, exactly like that which Babekan 
wore when he was thrown into the Tygris. He ordered them to 
be put on to Ibad and Syahouk, whose drunken fit was over, 
and being all three dressed exactly alike, he placed them behind 
three different pieces of hanging, in a magnificent hall of the 
palace, and gave orders that they should be discovered upon 
his making a certain sign." 

Then Nohoud was brought before him as he sat on his 
throne, and questioned, when she told the truth, and said the 
brothers were so much alike she thought that even she could 
not tell them apart if dressed alike. Then the Caliph gave the 
sign, and the hangings were pulled up, and she saw all three 
together alive. 




THE DESERT. 



222 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



She was ready to die with fear at the sight, when the Caliph 
told her she must select her husband. She looked carefully, 
but could not tell him, and then the Caliph ordered he that was 
her husband to come forward, when, to her horror, all three 
came, Ibad and Syahouk to be revenged on Babekan. 

It was impossible to tell which was Babekan, for all three 
declared they were he. After the Caliph had laughed enough 
at this, he sobered his fun, and told them that perhaps they 
would not be so anxious to be Babekan if they knew that he 
was to be bastinadoed. 

Then Ibad and Syahouk confessed, and Babekan, with face 
prostrated to the earth, begged the Caliph to pardon him for 
cruelty to his brothers, and promised to give them equal shares 
of his money. 

The Caliph was pleased to see him in this spirit, and par- 
doned him ; and now to reward the two brothers for the amuse- 
ment they had given him, he gave each of them twenty thous- 
and sequins. They each took a wife and settled in Bagdad, 
" where they traded in fellowship with Babekan, and these three 
brothers spent the rest of their days in abundance of tranquil- 
lity, under the protection of the Sovereign Commander of the 
Faithful, who was, moreover, so liberal to the porter, . that he 
lived at his ease ever after, without having any occasion for 
continuing his trade." 

This story, which I have been obliged to shorten a little, is 
taken from a collection of Tales of the East, made more than 
seventy years ago. 

Before we leave the land of the little Tartars, look at a pic- 
ture of the deserts they have to cross. The sun is just setting, 
and the travelers must soon pitch their tents for the night. 



SOMETIMES THEY SMOTHER. 22$ 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE DYED BABY ; THE LITTLE SIAMESE. 

NEXT door to the youngster who wears no clothes (at least 
next door on the map) live the unfortunate little people who 
are first daubed over with paste, and then smothered. 

These are the olive-colored babies of Siam, and life is made 
hard for them in the cradle I assure you. To begin with, as if 
nature had not already made than yellow enough, they are well 
rubbed with a paste made of tumeric and other things with oil. 
I dare say the Siamese nurse is another one of those conceited 
people who think they know more than nature herself. 

Anyway she does it, and then she puts the greasy, pasty baby 
in a cradle and covers it up. I should think she'd want to hide 
such an object as it must be ! She covers it up — head and 
all ! 

You would think it must smother ? Well, it sometimes does, bu 
that doesn't seem to teach them any better. Sometimes indeed 
the poor little wretch has a muslin cover of a sort of bee-hive 
shape which would surely be the death of an American baby. 

In this secluded way the Siamese youngster spends his first 
few weeks on earth, every day rubbed with a yellow mixture. 
Then he is taken up from the cradle, but still kept closely 
covered till he can walk, when at last comes freedom from 
wraps. 



224 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



It is freedom indeed ! a few bits of jewelry, a gold chain and 
a three-inch square of pendant, or similar covering, is considered 
full dress. The little Siamese who lives through the smothering, 
and has had his head shaved, excepting a round spot on top, 
now has his light dress of jewelry put on, and is turned loose to 
have a good time till he is ten or twelve years old. 

Unless indeed he happens to be a royal prince, in which case 
he is dressed in strange and marvellous array. See him here! 
Isn't he an object, with a hat like a pagoda, and shoes like a 
Chinese junk ! 

Poor little fellow! you would have cause to pity him if this 
was his every-day dress, but I can assure you that most of his 
young life is passed as free of clothes as the poorest boy in his 
country; in this picture he is " dressed up." 

In fact that early wrapping up seems to be enough for a whole 
life, for even the grown-up Siamese wears little covering. One 
strip of cloth a few yards long, put on in a graceful way, makes 
the ordinary dress of a man, and with a broad scarf added, 
wnich goes over one shoulder, and ties under the other arm, and 
sometimes a short tunic, is the common dress for women. On 
page 227 is a picture of the Siamese mother. 

Legs and feet go bare, even the king on his throne (at least 
until lately) merely slips his bare feet into a sort of sandal, and 
heads are only covered when the sun is hot, and one is obliged 
to go out. 

There's one pleasant thing for the young Siamese — they have 
plenty of playthings. They do not have to content themselves 
like the little Turks with rag dolls and a few mean toys. Dolls 
without end ! Poor youngsters' dolls of baked mud, and the dolls 
of the rich of wood, carved, with clothes on, as in India, or what 




DRESSED UP. 



226 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



is better, made of cloth, something as we make rabbits, or as our 
good grandmothers used to make dolls for us. 

These last, the rag dolls, are dressed like people, and are 
dearly loved by their little owners. In fact they make much 
greater ado over their dolls than you do. They have houses for 
them, which are completely furnished, and children of rich fami- 
lies often have a little garden in which the doll house stands; 
and then they have feasts (what you would call "having tea " or 
dinner) and processions, and other fine times. 

In a word, the young Siamese girl, exactly as the American 
one, plays at grown-up life with her dolls. She spends days at 
a time in her play house, her dolls have their own temple, where 
they go to church (as we say), they are married and are ill, they 
die and are buried, just the same as though their little mistress 
was white and wore dresses and buttoned boots, instead of be- 
ing yellow, and not wearing much of anything. 

You remember I told you in the beginning how much trouble 
I had in finding out about little folks' life in strange countries. 
Well, I shouldn't have been able to tell you a thing about the little 
Siamese, except for one woman. Book after book did I read, of 
travels in Siam, and page after page of history, and talk about 
their government, and their temples, and their country, but not 
a word about anybody less than five feet high. You'd have 
thought the babies were all smothered in those dreadful cradles. 

But happily an English woman — Mrs. Leonowens — has spent 
several years in the family of the king of Siam, as governess; 
better still, she has written some books for us ; and best of all, she 
has kindly told for your benefit other things about child life. 
You have her to thank for all I am able to tell you about these 
queer little people. 



SIAMESE MOTHERS. 



228 



LITTLE PEOPLE OE ASIA. 



The young Siamese that she tells us the most about are of 
the royal family of course, and I must tell you where they lived. 
Their home is in the most curious city in the world, a city of 
women and children alone. It is in the middle of the city of 
Bangkok, has high walls all around it, and a population of nine 
thousand people, yet not a man lives in it. 

In this strange place, called city of Nang Harm (or veiled wo- 
men), there are shops and markets, temples and theatres ; there 
are streets and avenues, little parks and lakes, trees and flower 
gardens ; there is a hall of justice, with its judges and execution- 
ers, and its dungeons attached ; there are police, guards, and 
soldiers, all, from first to last, women. Look at one of the 
women soldiers. 

That is not all. This city is as complete as any, it needs no 
help from outside ; besides shops for the sale of goods, it has 
all sorts of mechanics, carpenters, jewelers, and others, and all 
women. 

One man alone in all Siam can enter when he likes, the king. 
It is the home of his family, and the family of the king before 
him. You know, perhaps, that in Siam a man may have several 
wives, and a king as many as he pleases. Each wife has her 
own children and slaves, and therefore a city is needed to give 
room for all. 

On one occasion a procession of men is admitted ; they are 
priests, and since the Siamese believe that giving to the priests 
is necessary to religion, it would be cruel to deprive the women 
of Nang Harm of the chance of being charitable. Therefore a 
guard is appointed, of the women soldiers, to escort the priests 
through one of the principal streets, from one gate straight 
across to another. They hold out their bowls as they go, and 




A GIRL SOLDIER. 



230 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF A SLA. 



the women fill them with food. Excepting the king, and these 
priests in procession every morning, no man ever sets his foot in 
the city. 

Should you like to see the head of this strange city? Here 
he is. 

This is the picture of a king now dead, with his queen. The 
pupil of the English lady that I spoke of is now king of Siam, 
and he dresses more as we do. 

Iii this city of veiled women lived the English governess* 
little pupils. You probably fancy that life in a palace must be 
delightful, but it is far from that to the princes of Siam. A 
free, careless, happy life like yours they know nothing of ; life 
is stern and hard, even in the cradle. 

The first lesson the poor little things are taught is to be silent, 
and the next to be suspicious, and afraid of everybody. They 
are little men and women before they are out of the nursery. 

This seems very sad ; let us turn to a pleasanter picture. 
These little people are well supplied with playthings. They 
have doll houses of all sorts, from the bamboo hut, which floats 
on the river, in which many people of Siam live, as you see on 
page 232, to the king's palace itself. Each house has its com- 
plete furniture, and set of dolls in proper dress. They have also 
doll temples, with doll priests, ships with doll sailors, and so on. 

Then they have china toy dishes, ivory furniture, and hun- 
dreds of other toys. As I told you above, Siamese girls make 
more of their dolls than you do ; they have elaborate dinners 
of several courses, they perform plays, they have various cere- 
monies, as in real Siamese life. 

But even their doll life the princesses can't enjoy as you do. 
Though they are deeply interested in everything, they do not 




KING AND CUEEN. 



232 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF A SLA. 



handle the dolls themselves ; they look on while the slaves do 
the playing for them ! Think of having slaves to play for you ! 
Poor children ! 

They have other amusements ; there are fish and birds to 
feed, there are swings and bathing places to enjoy, there are back- 




A FLOATING HOME. 



gammon and chess, and Chinese cards ; there is singing to be 
heard, and dancing to be seen ; there are theatrical perform- 
ances, where the actors are the funniest creatures you ever saw. 

See them here ! Look at the moustache on the actor on the 
right, and the head dresses of the others. See the bare feet, 
and the wings on one, and above all, look at the finger-nails of 



LONG FINGER NAILS. 233 

the middle one. You see they are several inches long. These 
may be false ones, but nails are really grown as long as these, 
and it's a queer idea of ornament, isn't it ? 

Besides these there are stories to be listened to (and slaves to 
tell them), and above all there are flowers. Flowers are a great 




source of pleasure in the City of Nang Harm. The children 
make garlands of them to wear around the waist, or on the 
head, or to hang on the arm ; and a flower behind the ear is 
like a buttonhole bouquet to us.. 

One flower in particular, which is so fragrant, that One bios- 



234 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



som will fill a room with odor, is the champa, of a yellow color, 
and is almost always worn behind the ear of a child. 

They have shuttlecock, which they play with the foot ; they 
have quoits and wrestling, and they have puppet-shows of many 
kinds. 

Another amusement which they particularly like, is watching 
the feats of gymnasts. This picture of one of these perform- 
ances, which was seen and described by Mrs. Feudge in St. 
Nicholas, was drawn by a Siamese artist, and he did not show 
how high the poles really were. The men, you see, are on a 
swing, and as they swing back and forth, each man has one 
chance to seize in his mouth a purse full of gold, which is forty 
feet from the ground. If he gets it, it is his to keep, and he 
goes down from the swing by a rope-ladder ; but if he does not, 
he is not only laughed at, but he is obliged to let go of the 
ropes, sieze the pole on which the purse hangs, and slide down 
to the ground. 

But above all pleasures they have the kite ! This, which is not 
a specially favorite plaything with us, is the best loved sport 
over nearly all Asia. In India, as I told you, they are usually 
square, in Siam they are of different shapes, butterflies, birds, 
and others, and they are flown by men, women, and children. 

Their going to church is odd to us. The temple has no seats, 
but the whole floor (at least of the princesses temple) is of pol- 
ished brass. On this the people seat themselves in little circles 
all over the floor, each person having standing before her a vase 
of flowers and a lighted taper, and all are dressed in white. It 
must be a pretty sight. 

The priest wears a robe of yellow, with a fan held before his 
face. From behind the fan he chants a prayer, and the groups 




WILL HE GET IT? 



236 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



on the floor raise themselves to their knees, and bow their heads 
to the floor, in response to the prayer. Then they sit still and 
listen to a little sermon, and that is all. There is no singing, 
and no standing up. 

But their schools, especially the girls' schools, would be funny 
to see. Boys are taught to read and write and cypher, but girls 
are taught by rote. This is not only in the woman's city, but 
in all well-to-do families in Siam. In these droll school-rooms 
no books are used. There may be a map of the world on the 
wall which would make you laugh. It represents Siam as a 
great country in the middle of the world, Burmah a very small 
patch on the north, and all the rest sea. 

When the English governess showed them a globe and large 
map of the world, the children were very much interested, and 
crowded around asking questions as fast as a crowd of you, per- 
haps. At first they were a little disappointed to see their dear 
Siam, which they had thought the very centre of everything, as 
a little speck of earth on one side, but they soon consoled them- 
selves when they found out that England, which makes so much 
noise in the world, is not even so large. 

They were very anxious to know about the sun, moon, and 
stars ; not however because they were interested in astronomy, 
but because they supposed them to be the homes of hobgoblins, 
demons, and other not very agreeable neighbors. One little 
scholar really refused to believe that the lovely moon is a stu- 
pid ball of earth, but insisted that she is a beautiful woman, 
daughter of a great king, and head wife of the sun. 

But I must tell you how the girls are taught ; manners of 
course, especially to carry the left arm so that the elbow sticks 
out forward, which is thought to be very elegant ; and all the. 



CALLING ON A KING. 



2 3 8 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



other little points of polite etiquette which are important in so 
ceremonious a part of the world as this, where no one ap- 
proaches the king except crawling on hands and knees, on the 
ground, as you see in this picture of a king of a neighboring 
state, receiving a French traveler. (See page 237.) 

The king is a Laotian, and the attitude of his people, creep- 
ing like babies, is the same that the Siamese king of that time 
required. 

[I must remind you again that I am trying to picture the lives 
of these little foreigners to you, as they were before the English 
and other European people had made changes in their native 
ways. It is the native Siamese I want to show you, not the En- 
glish taught Siamese.] 

Let us go back to the girls' school. The scholars are placed 
in a row, with certain attendant officers, armed with rattans, 
whose business it is to see that no girl shirks her lesson. They 
are to learn singing, poems to repeat, dancing or gymnastics, 
and not a book to be seen, unless possibly the teacher has one. 
The teacher begins. Suppose it is a song, she sings the first line 
(or part of a line), the head pupil sings it after her, then the next 
one sings it, and so on to the end of the row. Then they sing it 
all together. When they all know that line, they go on to the 
next, till they can sing the whole air. 

In this way they learn everything, simply " by heart," and the 
one who is most like a parrot to remember words, is the best 
scholar. A dancing class of this sort must be amusing to see, 
or one in gymnastics. They learn a great deal, the poor young- 
sters, often as many as a hundred songs and poems, which 
they sing and repeat the rest of their lives. No papers and 
magazines for the little Siamese girl, no St. Nicholas, no new 




SOLEMN HAIR CUTTING. 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



books, nothing but those old, old stories, and songs. How 
dreadful ! 

There is one point they are careful about, they never learn an 
even number of stories or songs; it must be ninety-nine or a 
hundred and one, never ninety-eight or a hundred. They are 
very superstitious about this dislike for even numbers, and carry 
it so far that they never have even numbers of windows or doors 
nor of steps in a flight of stairs. 

But little people grow up fast in these warm countries, and 
while you are still pegging away at arithmetic, grammar, and other 
charming sciences, the young Siamese come of age. This is a 
great time in their life, as of course it is in yours, but they show 
it in a different way. The girls do not simply put on long 
dresses, and the boys grow a moustache ; they both have their 
hair cut ! 

The hair is a serious matter I can tell you. In the first place 
they shave it all off in babyhood, as I told you, excepting a 
round spot on top of the head. This grows and is taken care 
of, " done up " in a coil, dressed with flowers, and held in place 
by large pins of gold and jewels, or of porcupine quills among 
the poor. When a child is old enough to put away childish 
things and take its place as a man, great ceremonies take place 
with those who can afford it, and, as I said above, the hair is 
cut. 

A poor man's child is taken to a temple, and the priests go 
through some religious ceremony, and remove the hair ; but a 
rich man's child, and above all a royal youth, has great doings 
over this little matter. An artificial hill or mountain is built, 
and adorned with trees and animals, gilding and various gor- 
geous decorations, and having a path leading to the top. 



LADIES AT DINNER. 



242 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



In the midst of feasting, and processions, and great entertain- 
ments, such as dramas with thousands of actors which last sev- 
eral days, the child is led up this hill, with some one walking 
before him shaking a rattle to imply that he is still in infancy, 
and accompanied by those who are to take place in the cere- 
mony. At the top, in a place prepared, the religious ceremonies 
are performed, and the hair is cut. The proud young prince or 
princess, who went up an infant with a rattle box before him (or 
her) marches down a man, or woman. 

On page 239 is a youth going through this ceremony. You 
see the two priests with their bowls before them, and the young 
fellow himself on his knees. 

Henceforth the hair on this round place will be kept cut 
rather short, and 'standing straight up like a hair brush, while all 
the rest of the head is clean shaven. And now, too, the time 
draws near when the young people must marry. Though not 
so young as in India, girls of fourteen are considered of a proper 
age, and sixteen is not too young for a boy. 

You see the picture of ladies at dinner ; they eat from the 
same dish, and with the fingers as you see. The poorer people 
live principally on rice, but the rich eat nearly everything. 

There are some very queer houses in Siam, especially in 
Bangkok. They are floating houses, built on bamboo rafts, and 
held together by chains. There are shops and markets, and in 
fact they form a part of the city by themselves. You had a 
picture of these on page 232. 

They go about, of course, in boats, and have their street ped- 
dlers as we do, shouting their wares at the top of their voices, 
and each in his own boat. 

The canoes, in which these boat people get about, are man- 




ENTRANCE TO PALACE. 



aged very easily by the very babies of a few years old These 
youn^ers d haIf thejr ^ ,„ ^ „J 

and enjoy lt as much as so many ducks 

The finest houses in Siam are, of course, those belonging to 

hL tTe : fi a n :° h Sh ° WyOU What ° f « g ^people 
Wink the finest, here is the picture of one. 



244 LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 




ON THE 



See the grim-looking giants with their great clubs, to guard 
the door, and scare away unwelcome visitors. You can see by 
the man between them how tall they are. 

But the ordinary homes of the little Siamese are built of 
bamboo, one story high, and thatched with palm leaves, as you 



HARDLY ANY FURNITURE. 



245 



see in this one, on the banks of the river Menam, which is also 
built on poles, to be out of water in case the river rises. 

In the same picture you can see another sort of boat, with 
queer sails. 

Inside, the houses are almost alike. The home of the rich 
youngsters has fine mats on the floor, and the walls hung with 
white muslin, but not much furniture except a low couch cov- 
ered with mats, on which they sit by day, and sleep at night, as 




BABY AND NURSE. 



you see this nurse is doing with a little fellow, who has, hap- 
pily, got past the smothering process of his early baby days. 

Cabinets, copper, and earthen vessels, and china, are pretty 
much all there is besides, and in the home of the poor little 
people, there is of course still less. 

Perhaps a stranger house than the Siamese proper, is found 
close by, among the Laotians, where you go up by means of a 



246 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



ladder, and when you don't care for visitors you simply draw it 
up after you. 

In this next picture you can' see how the house is built, of 
bamboo bound together, and not nailed as we should do, and 

also how look 
the m others 
who live there. 
No shaved 
heads here, you 
see ! But what 
^ queer ways to 
' "do up " the 
g» hair ! one looks 
like a bird 
perched on the 
head. And 
what fine, beau- 
f tiful baskets 
they carry ! 

The funniest 
thing about 
these people, 
at least that a 
traveler can see, 
is the sort of 
saddles they 
make for their 

elephants. On page 249 you see a caravan of these huge ani- 
mals crossing a river. It shows how they slide down a steep hill, 
and it also shows a baby elephant. 




HOME OF THE LITTLE LAOTIAN. 




LAOTIAN" MOTHERS. 



248 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



Now this baby may be very interesting to see ; most babies 
are, but it's a great nuisance on a march, I can tell you. The 
reason is, that it is, like other young things, always getting into 
trouble of some sort, and the moment it cries out, every 
old elephant of the troop will run to help it. If it happens to 
fall into a ravine, down will go every big elephant pell-mell 
after the careless baby, and that you see is not very pleasant 
for the riders, perched up in these queer coops on their backs. 




QUEER SADDLES 



Other strange little people in the same part of the world are 
the Cambodians, who live in a house like that on page 250, get 
about on water in the boat before the house, and on land ride 
in a cart like that on page 251, which is drawn by two oxen. 

The mamma of these little people holds up her great coil of 
hair with an arrow, and wears more clothes than the Siamese 
mother. 




CAM BCDIAN MOTHER 



250 



LITTLE PEOPLE OE ASIA. 



In fact, we're getting pretty near to China, as you will see if 
you look on a map of Asia, and the people begin to look a 
little Chinese. 




HOME OF THE LITTLE CAMBODIAN. 

Great changes have taken place in Siam since the little prince 
whom Mrs. Leonowens taught, has become a man, and is king ; 
and no doubt in time the lives of the children will be very dif- 
ferent. 



251 



THE SIAMESE STORY. 



But, though it is pleasant to see people improve, it will always 
be interesting to know how they lived when they worked out 
their own ways, and did not copy anybody. 




HIS CARRIAGE. 



Of course you would like to hear a real Siamese story; well, 
here's one that will show you exactly how these queer people 



252 



LITTLE PEOPLE OE ASIA. 



tell their stories. It is taken from Bowring's Siam, and begins 
thus : 

" Now I am about to republish a story. At the time when 
the vacuum was in existence, and all things were in the most 
profound silence, long, long ago, in olden time, there was a 
kingdom called Chambank. The king bore the name Cham- 
bank Rachareteret, and his queen was the Lady Chantahtawee. 
She was both amiable and dutiful, and a thousand times fair 
and slender ; her countenance was very handsome, her deport- 
ment elegant, and she was quite superior to all her maids of 
honor. 

" Now I would speak in praise of the kingdom. The whole 
surface was covered with an immense population, who lived 
extremely contented, and filled with happiness ; the symmetry 
of their bodies .adorned the kingdom — " 

Dear me ! how many words! let us skip a little. I will quote 
farther on about the queen's baby. 

" Now, my readers, I must speak about the beauty of this 
exalted child, because it was of royal extraction and parentage. 
When it was born it was wonderful ! There was a wonder ; the 
stars sparkled, shone, and glistened with immense beauty, and 
in the universe, the angels gathering in crowds pronounced a 
blessing, and strewed flowers, the fragrance of which penetrated 
every corner." 

This is a little too Siamese in style. I think you will like bet- 
ter one that Mrs. Leonowens has told in her " Romance of the 
Harem." It is a genuine Siamese story, with some of the extra 
words left out, and explains, in one way, the origin of gold 
and silver mines. I must add that many people believe it to be 
true. 



HE WAS FIVE HUNDRED YEARS OLD. 



253 



" A Siamese Legend. 

" Vela Chow, or the Beautiful Dawn, was the only daughter of 
a very powerful king of Ayudia. She was so wondrously beau- 
tiful that the old Brahmins and astrologers who foretold her 
birth, named her before she was born, the Beautiful Dawn, as 
the only appropriate name for her. 

" Now it happened that at this time there was no moon to 
illuminate the fair earth, but the golden sun and the green 
earth enjoyed a much closer, and more intimate friendship than 
they now do, and old age, and sickness, and death were unknown 
to the blessed and undying people of Ayudia. 

" But -as the mighty king, Somdetch P'hra Batt, the Duke of 
the Golden Foot, had reigned nearly thirty-five hundred years 
without ceasing, he became weary of the cares of state, and 
therefore abdicated in favor of his young son P'hra Batt Bande- 
thano, a vigorous youth, of not more than five hundred years of 
age, who was even from his childhood an especial favorite of the 
ruby-faced and warm-hearted monarch, P'hra Athiett, that is, 
the sun. 

" In the course of time the friendship between these two, 
sovereigns of the earth and sky, ripened to such a degree of per- 
fection, that the latter was loath to withdraw his bright beaming 
face from his young friend's kingdom, even to seek his couch for a 
little rest at night, as had been his custom from time immemorial. 
Thus he beamed forth both night and day in saffron hues on the 
fair mountains and lovely valleys of the invincible city of Ayu- 
dia, and the land flourished in luxuriance and beauty, the fruits 
and flowers rivalled those that grew and blossomed in Indra's 
own garden, and countless birds of marvelous plumage winged 



254 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



their flight from distant worlds, to build their nests and warble 
their melodies among the proud forests of that favored land. 

" As for the men of this region, they were tall and stately, 
and of golden mien, like the laughter-loving gandharwas of In- 
dra's paradise ; and the women were gloriously beautiful, fair as 
silvery clouds, with eyes of wondrous hue. 

" Away flew the golden days and nights, and round and round 
rushed the radiant chariot wheels of P'hra Athiett, and thou- 
sands and thousands of years sped away, but he never relaxed 
the speed of his swift coursers, nor drew in his rainbow-tinted 
reins, nor turned away even for an instant his glowing eyes from 
this favored kingdom. 

" Now things having gone on in this way for several thou- 
sands of years, yet no sweet slumber had ever closed the god-like 
eyes of P'hra Athiett, and all the lovely Dowastras, or stars, 
finding themselves totally eclipsed, their brilliancy and beauty 
marred by this unceasing sleeplessness on the part of their sov- 
ereign, formed the wicked and cruel design of revolting against 
him, and of taking possession, by some means or other, of his 
golden car. 

" Accordingly, instead of going to sleep as had been their 
practice during the day, they all plotted together to hide them- 
selves behind the many-tinted curtain of their monarch's chariot 
and to watch his movements, in order to discover the cause 
of the singular attraction that drew him forever toward the 
earth, while he left his own vaulted and ethereal hemisphere to 
the tender mercies of stray suns, or wandering comets. 

" Having ratified by many a vow their wicked compact, the 
treacherous Dowastras, instead of going to bed like the dutiful 
'children of a kind and beneficient ruler, only pretended to sleep, 



THE STARS LAUGHED. 



255 



but all the while kept opening and shutting, and blinking their 
bright little eyes, winking at one another, and peering behind 
the golden curtains of the royal chariot at their unconscious 
master, who, fully believing that all his subjects were sound 
asleep, grew brighter and brighter, while over his round, genial 
face there beamed forth a smile of ineffable radiance, as he ap- 
proached the earth. 

" At this very moment the rebellious Dowastras, wondering at 
the blissful face of their monarch, peered out from behind the 
rainbow-hued drapery of the celestial chariot and turned their 
penetrating eyes toward the earth, when to their astonishment 
they beheld the face of Vela Chow, who was lulling her wearied 
father to rest with the music of her sweet voice. 

'"Ah ha!' laughed the wicked Dowastras, 'now we have 
found out the secret ! ' 

" As soon as she had soothed her father to sleep, the lovely 
Vela Chow, all unconscious of what was happening around her, 
sauntered forth among the unfrequented woods and dells, mak- 
ing the voiceless hills and rocks re-echo her notes in melodious 
sounds." 

[I omit a long account of her wanderings.] 

"At last she sat herself down in the deep solitude to rest, 
and as she listened to the gentle zephyrs that fanned her yellow 
tresses, .... it chanced that a gorgeous butterfly, more 
glorious than any that she had ever before seen, alighted on a 
neighboring flower. Up sprang Vela Chow, and away she flew 
after it, from flower to flower, from shrub to tree, till at last the 
tantalizing butterfly flew so high in the air, that the eager dam- 
sel could do no more than raise her fair face and sparkling eyes 
to follow its airy flight through the bright sky. 



256 



LITTLE PEOPLE OE ASIA. 



" Just at this moment P'hra Athiett's golden chariot was com- 
ing over the hill, and he smiled a smile of such ineffable delight 
when he caught sight of her, that he dazzled the eyes of the 
poor little maiden ; and as she could no longer see the beautiful 
butterfly, she was obliged to relinquish all idea of capturing 
it. 

" So she retraced her disconsolate steps to her lonely moun- 
tain stream, and plunged into its waters in the hope of finding 
therein refreshment and forgetfulness of her cruel disappoint- 
ment. But P'hra Athiett was not to be thus baffled ; so he 
noiselessly climbed higher and higher, and came nearer and 
nearer, and smiled so much more warmly than ever, that he 
once more quite overpowered the weary maiden, who suddenly 
vanished from his sight, sought refuge in her favorite mountain 
cavern, and there fell sound asleep. 

" For a moment poor P'hra Athiett was disconcerted, and a 
great pain, like a dark, heavy cloud, shot up from his breast, 
and overspread his bright, happy face, and he knew not what to 
do ; but the next he broke forth into a more joyous smile than 
ever, for he was just as foolish as he was old, and had been on 
the lookout all these thousands of years, hoping to catch a 
glimpse of this incomparable maiden, and now he could not 
make up his mind to perform his journey without one more look 
at her sweet, pure face." 

So (to cut a long story a little short), he turned around and 
drove down the mountain side to her cavern, went in, and 
smiled on her till she awoke. But, while they were conversing 
(to resume), " the wicked Dowastras, in all haste, rushed to the 
mountain side, drove off the golden chariot, and unharnessed 
the swift-winged coursers. Having thus cut off his retreat, they 



HOW GOLD WAS MADE, 



257 



raised a shout of triumph, deposed their monarch, and estab- 
lished, a republic among themselves, permitting neither stray 
suns nor wandering comets to have anything to do with their 
government. 

"Poor P'hra Athiett, who had persuaded the sweet Vela Chow 
to be his bride, found now, to his consternation and grief, that 
his golden chariot had vanished. He bowed his head, and his 
great joyous face became suddenly overcast, all its light and 
glory departed, while large tears like mountain torrents rolled 
from his god-like eyes, and streamed upon the earth, and were 
then and there transformed into nuggets of the purest gold. 

" Then the mountains, pitying his sufferings, opened their 
hearts, and revealed to him a secret passage, by which he might 
regain his heavenly abode. 

P'hra Athiett bade adieu to Vela Chow, and started off, 
promising to return, tears falling all the way. As for Vela 
Chow, she followed on after him, shedding rivers of tears, 
which turned into veins of purest silver. 

"Thus the grief of these two god-like hearts served to enrich 
the country with endless wealth. 

After twelve hours the wicked Dowastras repented, and 
made a new compact with P'hra Athiett. In this they agreed, 
" that for a fortnight in every month he should pick up his beau- 
tiful bride at the mouth of the cavern, and take her with him 
to his celestial home, but that for the rest of the month she 
should unveil her matchless face, and reveal her exquisite beauty 
to the Dowastras, and rule over them in the sky, for they all 
loved her ; " and they changed her name to Rupea Chandra, the 
Silver Moon. 

" But even to this day, when Vela Chow is presiding in splen- 



258 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



dor over the jealous Dowastras, P'hra Athiett is foolish enough 
at times to attempt to kiss her, when all the Siamese, fearing lest 
he should again be dethroned, turn out en masse, and shout, and 
beat drums, and fire cannons, to warn him of the impropriety 
of his proceedings, which in the space of two or three hours 
(this being the time, it is said, that sound . takes to get to the 




THE ODDEST YET. 

moon), generally produces the desired effect of recalling the 
monarch to himself. Thus are gold and silver mines, and lunar 
and solar eclipses accounted for, and annual pilgrimages are 
still made to the cavern where Vela Chow plighted her troth to 
P'hra Athiett." 




BURMAN ACTOR. 



260 LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 

You have seen some strange looking boats, but this is per- 
haps the strangest of all. It is used by the people of Burmah, 
another neighbor to Siam, where the little people learn to smoke 
cigars before they can walk. Boys, and girls too, smoke from 
morning till night. 

Even in school the smoking goes on, and the little scholar 
only lays it aside while he recites his lesson, which he bawls at 

the top of his 
voice, like 
other little 
Asiatics. 

I want to 
show you an 
actor of Bur- 
mah, because 
it is curious to 
see how dif- 
ferent are peo- 
ple who live 
side by side. 

MUSICIAN. 

Look at her 

on page 259. How unlike the Siamese ! 

She is performing, you see, and she has no stage, and no roof 
over her. It is in the open air, and anybody can hear that can 
get near enough. 

Look at the curious kind of a drum the man is playing behind 
her. Here is a better picture of it, and of another Burman 
instrument, which you might mistake for a big tub, or some sort 
of a cage. 

This is the queer country, where one of your plays (you boys), 




THE "TUG OF WAR." 



261 



the one you call the " tug of war/' is a religious ceremony. 
They perform it when the country needs rain, and it is curious 
to see. 

The rope, or what takes the place of your rope, is made of 
long canes twisted together, with sticks thrust through to take 
hold of. The boys and men of one town take hold one side, 
and those of another town take the other side, and then both 
pull as hard as they can. 

Each side has one 
of the curious in- 
struments like the 
pictures, and its own 
priest to encourage 
to hard work. 

This tug of war,\ 
performed in a sol- 
emn manner, with 
music and priests, is 
seriously thought to 
bring rain. And it 
doesn't matter which side beats either, for they all want the 
rain. 

You think it is odd that your play begins as a religious cere- 
mony. So it is; but dancing too was a part of religion, and is 
even now, in some places. 

These youngsters of Burmah, who smoke while still in arms, 
are the babies which you see resting by the roadside in their 
queer baby carriages, in the first chapter. 




ANOTHER. 



262 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



CHAPTER X. 

BABIES UNDER THE SNOW ; LITTLE SIBERIANS. 

Away up there in the snow, near the north pole, where winter 
is one long, long night, and summer almost like one long day, 
are other queer little people. 

There is one, whose cradle is a wall-pocket ; truly, a pocket 
of fur, on the skin walls of his father's tent. He is, I'm sure, 
safe, and out of the way in that crowded little tent, and above 
all, he is warm, and to be warm is almost the one object of life 
in that part of the world. 

When this pocketed youngster is big enough to roll around, 
he is tied up in a lot of furs till he looks like a big bundle, and 
then he can live on the floor with his elders. Then he can eat 
,fat meat, learn to drive and take care of reindeer, and grow up 
into a gloomy, silent man, or, if the baby happens to be a girl, 
she will learn to dress furs, to sew, and to keep house like her 
mother. 

These little people are Samoides, and we should know more 
about their ways if it were not so dreadfully cold up there that 
no one can bear to stay who knows enough to get away. 

On page 264 is a picture of the home they live in. Dreary 
looking place, isn't it ? It is livelier than usual, too, just now, 
for a ship is coming near, and everybody, little and big, is out 
to see the wonder. 





HOME OF YAKOUTE YOUNGSTERS. 



•264 LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 

In this dismal part of the world lives also this queer baby, 
whose dress is so odd, and who is so interested in the dead 
animal her father has brought home, that she doesn't turn 
around and show us her face. At the back of the picture you 
see her home, a low hut. This youngster is a Mandchouse. I 
wonder if you can find her home on the map ! 




HOME OF SAMOIDES LITTLE PEOPLE. 



Not far from these people are other strange houses and little 
folk. (See page 263.) The dress of the children is not so very 
odd ; but look at the grown-ups and their tent houses. 

And then look at a mamma of these children. No doubt she 
is very elegant, and in the height of fashion, with her cheeks 



WITH BOWS AND ARROWS. 



265 



and chin decorated, her funny hat like a pair of cow's horns, 
and the dangling ball fringe to her dress. Page 267. 

You see she's out hunting, for she has her bows and arrows. 
If she wished to ride she would take a pair of reindeer, and a 




MANDCHOUSE BABY. 



sledge, or what might be called a skeleton sleigh, like this which 
the father of this queer family is about to use. • 

I have shown you the dancers and actors of several races in 



266 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



Asia: look at page 269! Isn't it the strangest yet? You see 
the ball fringe is very popular. On the ground you can see a 
mask, which, probably, the dancer has thrown off in her excite- 
ment. These are the Yakoutes. 

Now here's a sensible dress for the terrible climate of north- 
ern Siberia, where the babies I have been telling about all 
live. See it on page 268. 




ON A JOURNEY. 



It is not a bear, as you might suppose, which the lady is so 
carefully directing on his way. It is her son, in his winter dress 
of fur, which comes up over his head, and covers his face like a 
mask, having holes for eyes, and nose, and mouth. I don't see 
how that youngster can be cold. 




YAKOUTE MAMMA. 



268 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



But see him in his summer dress on page 270, with his cap 
like a policeman's cap, his full gathered trowsers and turned-up 
shoes. In summer you see mamma is quite fine in dress, and 
their home is in a comfortable house. They are people of Bere- 




BEAR OR BOY? 



zov, and this is their traveling carriage on page 272. No two of 
the people who drive reindeer, harness them up in the same way. 

I'm afraid you don't realize how cold it is up in this country. 
Milk is carried about in bricks, with a string frozen in. This 




A QUEER DANCE. 



270 LITTLE PEOPLE GF A SLA. 

string may be fastened to one's girdle, and the milk allowed to 
dangle there till wanted to drink, or to eat, wouldn't you say? 
Soup is always carried in blocks, and a favorite meat for 




IN SUMMER. 



travelers is like marbles. A traveler takes a bag of these with 
him, and when he wishes to eat he thaws them out in hot 
water. 

Apples in this freezing place grow about as big as whortle- 





HOW PLANTS GROW. 



272 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



berries, with seeds the size of a small pin-head. The little folks 
don't eat them as you do apples ; they are pickled to eat with 
meat. 

In this charming place the children sit on top of the stove ! 




A SLEIGH RIDE. 



But then the stove is not like ours, it is a brick affair, as you see 
in this picture, where the baby is enjoying the warmth. This 



STATUES OF ICE. 



273 



Siberian cradle you see is something like that of the Hindu 
baby, so far away to the south. 

Storms in Siberia are fearful ; the wind is so strong that it 
blows people away, and they are lost in going a few steps, and 



msm ' „ ; ' — 


mgmy ■ 1 




■■■mi. §1 1 imp iiii 










i^isiiiiiiioi 






: \J 






SIBERIAN CRADLE. 



so cold that they are often frozen solid while walking, so solid' 
and so suddenly, that they are left standing like statues of ice. 
Hailstones fall as large as millstones, and snowstorms are blind- 
ing, like that on page 275. 



274 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



But in spite of the cold, some plants grow to an enormous 
size. Fennel, which with us is low enough for the littlest of you 
to pick, grows to be twelve feet high, with bunches of blossoms, 
and seeds a foot and a half across, as in the picture on page 271. 

If there was a man in the picture he would not reach more 
than half way up these plants. 

Bears are very fond of this fennel, and bears are plenty in 
Siberia. They come down from the mountains to seek the green 
food, and then the Siberian boy's papa goes out to hunt them. 
Here he is on page 276, after a mother bear with two cubs. The 
old lady looks as though she meant to make it rather lively for 
the brave man who. dares to attack her at such close quarters. 

Strange to say, one of the most famous bear hunters of 
Siberia a few years ago was a young girl. Her brothers were 
hunters, and hearing them talk she made up her mind to try 
for herself. She stole off alone to hunt her first bear, and 
astonished the family by bringing home a skin. After that she 
went whenever she chose, and became famous all through 
Siberia, as Mr. Atkinson tells us in his interesting book. 

Her name is Anna Petrovnaia, and she no doubt lived in a 
bare looking house like that on page 277, where the family are 
at their prayers before an image. 

Summer is not so dreadful as winter, of course, but even then 
traveling is not very charming, with the wild horses three 
abreast in Russian fashion Here is a traveler who barely 
escaped with his life. (See page 278.) 

The little people of Siberia have no doubt plays and play- 
things of some sort, but the only game I can find out about is 
one of the girls' plays. It is what we call a " Teeter," a plank 
put across a support on which two or more can go up and down. 



THE SIBERIAN TEETER. 



275 




OUT IN THE STORM. 



The Siberian teeter rests on a support only a few inches from 
the ground, and a girl stands on each end. When one girl goes 
up, she is thrown into the air, then she comes down hard, and 
jounces the other up a little higher, and so they go on, fifteen 



2/6 LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 




LOOK OUT FOR YOURSELF. 



or twenty minutes at a time, till they are thrown three or four 
feet straight up every time. They must have some bad falls 
before they get expert at this. 

Do you want to see the father and mother of these unfortu- 
nate little Siberians ? Look on page 279. 




HOME OF SIBERIAN LITTLE FOLK. 



In this cold country, too, are the little folk of Lapland ; black 
eyed, flat-faced creatures, whose cradle is shaped like a shoe, 
covered with fur and stuffed with moss, carried on mamma's back 
when she goes out, and sometimes buried in the snow, with a 
dog to guard when she goes in to church. 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 




JUST A MISS. 



This seems dreadful, to be sure, but we've seen so many queer 
things about babies in far-away Asia, that nothing can surprise 
us now, however odd. 

The little Lapps live all huddled up " higglety-pigglety " with 
the grown-ups in a skin tent, sometimes only six feet in diame- 



CRADLED IN A SHOE. 



279 



ter, or not so large as a small bath-room in a city house. Think 
of a whole family living in such a place ! 

And they receive guests, too, even in so small a house. The 
family will all crowd together on one side and leave the other 
for a stranger, with the fire in the middle. Yet, after all, a Lapp 
youngster has a pretty good time. His cradle, if queer, is com- 
fortable. It is stuffed with moss to make it soft, and baby is 




FATHER AND MOTHER. 



wrapped in a sheet, and fastened in by cords laced across the 
opening. Here he sleeps day and night, only coming out for 
his daily bath, till he is old enough to walk. 

As soon as a Lapp baby is born, a reindeer is given to him, 
to begin a little fortune for him when grown up. Not only that 
deer but all its young, and as they grow up all their young deer 



28o 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



belong to the child, so that when he is of age he has quite a 
little herd of his own. 

The play of the little Lapp is a good deal like work, for he 
has a hard life before him. He must learn to be expert on snow- 
shoes, for on them he gets about in winter. He practices on 
them till he can not only walk and run, go up and go down, but 
can jump several feet down and not fall, and if you don't think 
that's hard to do, suppose you try it some time. 

Boys and girls, like their fathers and mothers, dress almost ex- 
actly alike in Lapland, and they go to school if they live in a 
village, where they sit on the floor and study all together. 

If they live far from each other, a wandering teacher comes 
around from house to house and teaches the youngsters, for all 
Lapp children must learn to read at least. 

Little Lapps, like the Siberian boy in the picture you saw, 
have masks of fur for cold, windy weather, and they have also 
big caps with several inches of down in the top, to keep their 
heads warm. Their boots and mittens are big, and stuffed with 
dry grass, and they sleep in long fur gowns like bags, dressed in 
all their day clothes. 



HIS HEAD IS SQUEEZED. 



28l 



CHAPTER XL 

MORE HALF-FROZEN BABIES ; THE LITTLE ESKIMO. 

ABOVE all, up there in the snow, lives the Eskimo little 
man, whom we know more about than any of the rest of these 
half-frozen little folk, and who is for that reason, perhaps, the 
most interesting of all. 

This is no screaming or howling baby, who keeps a nurse busy 
all day attending to his wants, and half the house awake all 
night for the same purpose. Far from it ; the Eskimo baby 
is a model. He very rarely cries, and never gets cross. Here 
he is with the rest of the family, on the next page. 

To be sure he hasn't much to trouble him, no clothes to pinch 
him, and always warm in the soft fur nest where his baby days 
are spent. The nest is mamma's hood, and there, cuddled down 
close to her warm neck, the little fellow has no reason to be any- 
thing but very, very good. 

A little trouble comes to babies among one tribe of Eski- 
mos, but they're so young they know nothing about it. They 
have their heads squeezed. You remember we have found a 
good many nations who think nature doesn't know how to fash- 
ion a baby, and so they complete the job themselves. Well ; 
the Eskimos belong to that sort of people. They want 
baby's head a certain shape, so they take it in their hands and — 
squeeze it into the fashionable shape ! Then, lest it should go 



282 



LITTLE PEOPLE OE A SLA. 



back, they put on a little skin cap, which is tight, and holds the 
poor little head as they wish it to be. This cap is worn for a 




CRADLE AND BABY AND ALL. 



The youngster and his mother have a bran new house for 
themselves, and when the little Eskimo is two weeks old, his 



THE BABY THROWN INTO THE SNOW. 



283 



mother goes out to make calls. She throws away her old clothes, 
and calls at every house or igloo in the settlement. 

Till it is three years old the little one has no clothes, but rolls 
around on the beds or the floor in the house, and always goes 
out in the warm nest I told you about. If he happens to be 
naughty, which is a rare thing, he is quickly taught to behave, 
by exposing him to t}ie enemy of his life, the thing he has to 
fight as long as he lives, the cold. In one place the naughty 
Eskimo child is held in the sea till it stops crying. No mat- 
ter how cold it may be, even in the middle of winter, the Alaska 
Eskimo is thus trained. Those who are not killed by this 
curious sea bathing, get very tough, and are able to go bare 
footed even in winter. 

In another place, to teach the unruly youngster to behave, he 
is tossed out into the snow and cold, naked, you remember. 
This very soon cures him of any naughtiness. 

If the poor young one lives through these performances, and 
gets to be three years old, he is thought big enough to be 
dressed. So a suit is prepared, which is exactly like his father's, 
for the boy, and like the mother's for a girl. There's not much 
difference in the suits, probably you could not tell boys from 
girls in the Eskimo dress. The girls' coats or frocks, or what- 
ever one might call the dress (they call it parky), is a little 
longer than the boys', and has a bigger hood. Here is a boy on 
the next page, who looks comfortable, doesn't he ? 

But let me tell you what the dress is. It is a sort of loose 
jacket, buttoned at the waist, and made of fur, of course ; below 
this is worn a pair of fur trowsers, and then boots. The woman's 
boots are curious affairs, made to hold lots of things besides her 
feet. In fact, they look more like big bags than like boots, and 



284 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



have to be held up by a broad strap which is fastened to her 
girdle. 

Maybe you girls think there isn't much chance for trimming 
on the Eskimo girls' dress, but if you do you're greatly mis- 
taken. No flowers to be sure, no ruffles or puffs, no ribbons or 

laces ; but other things she likes bet- 
ter. To begin with, she can have a 
sort of breast-plate, a plastron (to be 
elegant) of bead work, and then frin- 
ges of various kinds, from all parts 
of her dress. One very grand dress 
in Eskimo land is described by a 
traveler as nearly covered with or- 
naments. Listen ! across the neck 
in front was a bead of fringe of 
several colors ; hanging from the 
pointed flap of the dress in front 
was a fringe made of the bowls of 
britannia tea-spoons, which must 
certainly have been gorgeous. 

But the back was a study. The 
long piece hanging down from the 
jacket had a fringe made of com- 

IN FULL DRESS. 

mon lead shot, drawn out long, and 
through the middle a double row of copper cents, with, at their 
head, a big brass gong out of an old clock! There! wasn't that 
gown trimmed ? 

Life is not all work with the little people, they have toys in 
plenty. The girls have dolls; some little ones carved from 
ivory not more than an inch long, and others of ivory or wood 




SNOW HUTS FOR THE DOLLS. 



285 



sometimes more than a foot tall, and dressed from top to toe in 
the most stylish Eskimo dress. These large ones have eyes 
made of bits of pearly shells, and noses, too, which gives them a 
droll expression. 

The black-eyed mistresses of these dolls love them quite as 
much as you do yours, and play with them too. For them they 
build the tiny snow-hut, and beg of mamma a bit of wick for 
a lamp lest dolly should freeze ; in their small hoods go the 
tiny ivory babies an inch long, while the doll itself is carried in 
the hood of its little mistress. 

The boys have toy sledges and boats, and even imitations of 
the white man's ship, with rigging of sinews or the fine roots of 
a certain grass. They have, too, tiny spears, bows and arrows, 
lances, and so forth, and both have animals of all the kinds 
known to Eskimos, bears, seals, whales, dogs, and others. 
They play at their fathers' life also, they hunt the ivory seal, 
shoot the toy bears, draw the little sledges. 

But little people soon learn to help father and mother in the 
hard work of life. Boys get expert in killing birds on the wing, 
and when only eight or nine years old, begin to go with their 
fathers to hunt seal. They also learn to kill the great white 
bear, which they sometimes meet in closer quarters than they 
like, as you see on next page. Bruin has evidently started out 
hunting himself. Perhaps he wants Eskimo meat for dinner. 

The boys, too, learn to manage the curious Eskimo boat, 
which is so top-heavy that one needs much skill to keep right 
side up in it. In some places a small boat is made for a boy 
when he is ten years old, and he goes out with his father and 
takes lessons in managing it, till he becomes expert. Before he 
is nineteen years old, a boy is expected to kill a seal with a har- 



286 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



poon. You may be sure he tries his best to do it, for it is the 
great event of his life. A feast is made, everybody congratu- 
lates him and his parents, and the boy is now called a man. 

The little girl has not been playing with dolls all this time 
while her brother has been getting his education. She has 




TOO NEAR FOR COMFORT. 



learned to sew, with a needle made from the bone of a bird's 
wing. She has learned to take care of the lamp, to dry the wet 
shoes and gloves in the net that hangs over the lamp. She has 
learned to cut up snow fine to made beds, to dress the skins her 
father and brothers bring home, and to cook the meat for dinner. 



HER NAME WAS KIMNALOO. 



287 



Neither of them have learned to read, nor, what is far worse, 
to be neat in person, for there is one dreadful thing to be said 
about these unfortunate little people ; they never wash them- 
selves, and never comb their hair, at least while they are young. 

Captain Hall, who lived among the Eskimos, tells about 
trying to improve the appearance of a little Eskimo girl. 
After much labor, and the use of quantities of soap and water, 
they got at her skin, and found she was a very pretty girl, but 
when they took a coarse comb, and attempted to get the snarls 
out of her hair, they had a job ! It had never been combed, and 
it was full of bits of moss, seal hairs, and everything else. 
The little thing endured very patiently, and was then dressed 
in a pretty red dress, in American style, and was really a beau- 
tiful child ; her name was Kimnaloo. 

There's some excuse you must know for their not washing ; 
even white men, who have spent some time among them, found 
it almost impossible to bathe. In the first place, strange as it 
may seem, water is scarce. It is only procured by melting snow, 
and as they have no fire but an oil lamp, and have to do all their 
cooking and drying wet clothes over that, you can easily see it 
would be hard to get water for anything but food and drink. 

But there's another reason, too. Any part that is wet must 
be dried at once, or it will be frost-bitten. At the same time a 
towel once used freezes like a board, and has to be dried 
before it can be used again. Then drying is the trouble. The 
lamp can't be spared from drying mittens and shoes, and if it 
could the towel would be smoked and covered with soot. Be- 
sides this the people have no towels, except the skins of birds, 
which they keep to wipe the hands on. You see it's far more 
trouble for the little Eskimo to keep clean than it is for 



288 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



you, who have only to turn a faucet to get all the water you 
need. 

I must tell you about the house these queer little folks live in. 
In summer it is a tent of skins, but in winter it is a little round 
hut of snow. It is really a beautiful little house before it is lived 
in and smoked up, made of great blocks of snow, white and 
almost transparent. Two men can build one in an hour, with a 
low entrance and a long passage for a hall, so low sometimes 
that one has to creep in. 

Inside, the women make the beds, which are also of snow, and 
very comfortable, it is said. To make a bed an embankment is 
made, and filled up with snow cut into fine pieces. On this the 
furs are spread, and here the family sleep, all huddled together 
to keep warm. 

How dreadful it seems to us, that people living in that fear- 
fully cold climate have no fire except a lamp ! Yet they man- 
age to keep warm, and even white men who live as they do 
have made themselves tough enough to do without fire also. 

Life is not all work, even to the grown-ups. During the long 
winter, if they have food laid by, they have much time on their 
hands, and they have games and dances like other people. They 
play various wrestling and jumping games, and in the proper 
season football, with a ball of skin stuffed with sand. 

One amusement is making faces, and they certainly can make 
themselves look most hideous. They will draw both lips into 
the mouth, and stick forward the chin, till they look like the 
"missing link," which scientists are looking for to connect the 
human race with the monkeys. Then they will squint fright- 
fully, and move the head from side to side, in a way that looks 
as though the neck was out of joint. To make the face utterly 



MAKING FACES. 



289 



diabolical they open and shut one eye slowly. The one who 
can make the worse face is the greatest fellow. This is fun 
worthy of savages. 

Another way to pass away the tedious hours is by a sort of ven- 
triloquism. Two men stand facing each other, and talk in this 
tone, at the same time staring in such a way that it seems <is if 
their eyes would burst out of the sockets. I hope this doesn't 
give the little folk the nightmare, but I should think it would. 

And the mothers help the little ones over the long days ; 
they play " cat's cradle," and make ever so many more changes 
than we do with the string. They make deer, whale, seal, and 
other animals, almost without end. 

Then the Eskimos of Alaska have a very curious festival, 
the queerest you ever heard of. To give one of these feasts, a 
man will save everything he can earn or make for years. He 
will get together great piles of valuable skins, guns, beads by 
the yard, suits of clothes, and everything most desirable in 
Eskimo life. Sometimes he will work hard for fifteen years, for 
this one purpose. 

When ready he calls in his friends and neighbors, and spreads 
the feast he has prepared. As long as the food lasts they stay, 
perhaps for days, and then he gives them everything he has got 
together, every single thing, and leaves himself poor! 

The honor of so grand an affair is all he wants to comfort the 
rest of his life. 

I must tell you girls about an elegant " party dress" worn by 
an Eskimo belle to a dance. See how much it is like ours ; the 
dress was of the intestines of seal, split and sewed together, as 
I shall tell you later. This makes a transparent garment, and 
the young girl who wore it had trimmed it most gorgeously. 
19 



290 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



It was embroidered with colored worsted, and fringed with 
strings of beads. 

Her trowsers were white, made of Siberian reindeer skin, 
embroidered and decorated with strips of wolf skin. Her hair 
was braided on each side with strips of wolf skin and strings of 
beads, and over her shoulders hung necklaces and pendents of 
beads. On her hands were snow-white gloves of fawn skin, 
which fitted nicely, and were trimmed around the wrist with 
wolf skin. 

To complete the outfit, she held in her hand, not a bouquet, 
nor even a sunflower, but a long eagle feather, one in each 
hand, with its edges decorated with swan's-down. As she 
danced and sang she waved the feather in the air, and no 
doubt she was perfectly charming. Shouldn't you like to see 
her? 

Their dances are very funny. By way of a band a number 
of women will stand in a circle, with their hands hidden under 
the front flaps of their jackets, and sing the music. The dancer 
in this dance is a man, who stands in the middle of the ring, 
shakes his head and flings his long hair about, throws his arms 
and his legs, and now and then gives a yell. The women's 
dance is even more odd. They kneel on the ground, and then 
suddenly jump to their feet, then do it again, and so on, and so 
on, as long as they like ! 

Queer things these queer people eat ; seal, of course, raw or 
half cooked, and any other meat they can get ; ducks caught 
while moulting, and covered with down, packed in bales, skin, 
down and all, so that they look like small cotton bales ; and for 
a delicacy the contents of a dead reindeer's stomach, which 
even Captain Hall says is delicious. 



THE DROLLEST THLNG LS THE DOG. 



29I 



Then in summer they have blueberries, though they grow 
on bushes an inch or two high, on the very edge of a snow- 
bank, yet they are blueberries, and are plenty for a short 
time. 

The drollest thing in all Eskimo land, according to a late 
writer, is the Eskimo dog. The gentleman who tells their funny 
ways has lately been to that country, and speaks of them in 
an article in Scribner s Magazine. These useful creatures, who 
work hard for their masters, and indeed make it possible for 
people to live in that terrible cold, are, to begin with, never 
half fed, sometimes work for eight or ten days without food, 
and are always hungry. They are very curious, interested in 
everything, and always hoping that some one will throw them a 
morsel to eat. 

Dear me, this isn't droll is it? this is cruel, and makes us wish 
Mr. Bergh would go up there and attend to the matter. 

I'll begin again, and tell you what is amusing about them. 
When a party of Eskimos is moving, the dogs are loaded up 
with the household goods, which includes tent poles, one of 
which is fastened on each side of each dog. Now if he would 
travel straight on, as a horse, or almost any animal who bears a 
burden will do, he would have no trouble, but that is not a dog's 
way. 

Dogs will be dogs, even where they have to work for their liv- 
ing, and so these poor fellows go prowling around, as though 
they had no loads, smelling of every stone, and looking into 
every unusual object they pass. This gets the long poles terri- 
bly mixed up ; sometimes half a dozen will get into a snarl, and 
have to be untangled, sometimes one stick will get in front and 
get fastened in the ground, while the other behind holds equally 



292 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



well. The dog is then a fixture, and can't move either way, till 
his yells bring some one to help. 

Often they get into fights, and the loads get broken open, and 
if they are eatable, are quickly disposed of. There is in every 
pack one bully who seizes everything eatable which any other 
dog is lucky enough to get and of whom all the rest are afraid. 

It is the great aim, says this writer, of every Eskimo dog to 
get into his master's house, where there is warmth, and above 
all food. Poor fellow ! it is the only comfortable place he knows. 
But it is equally the one aim of the master to keep him out, 
and so he seldom enjoys it. 

The greatest joy of a dog's life is to steal a bit of meat, but it 
is a fearful joy, for trouble follows instantly. No sooner does 
he appear with his treasure, than every other dog " goes for 
him." He starts on a dead run, the whole yelling pack behind 
him ; he is headed off in one way, turns desperately to the 
other, and meets there another party, all bent on snatching away 
the delicious morsel he carries. He tries to get it down on the 
run ; he whines and chokes and runs all together, and it would 
be very funny if it didn't make us pity the half-starved crea- 
tures who so patiently work for their masters. 

In Eskimo land, as everywhere else, little people are fond 
of stories, and Dr. Rink has collected a good many for other 
little people to enjoy. 

Should you like to know what sort of a story would please a 
party of Eskimo children, huddled around the lamp in a low 
snow cottage, while they munched away on raw meat, or blub- 
ber? Well, then, listen. This story has been told to them 
hundreds of times. It's as popular as Jack the Giant-killer, 
and Cinderella and the Glass Slipper are with you. It is the 



NEW CURE FOR GREEDINESS. 



293 



" Story of Kagsagsuk. 

" Once upon a time, a miserable old woman with her adopted 
son lived on the bounty of some richer, but very cruel, families. 
They had a little shed to themselves that opened into the house- 
passage, but were never allowed to enter the main hut. The 
boy often slept among the dogs for the sake of warmth. Only 
the poorest scraps were thrown to this miserable pair, frozen 
meat being given them, with no knives to cut it, and they were 
told to use their teeth for knives. Now and then the wicked 
men pulled out a tooth belonging to the wretched boy, saying 
that he ate too much. Still, even in their misery, the mother 
loved her adopted child, and made him a pair of boots, and a 
small bird-spear, that he might play with the other children, and 
forget hunger and cold. But even here he had no peace. For 
his mates, instead of pitying him, tormented him ; threw him 
down, rolled him in the snow, and the girls covered him with 
mud. Altogether, they treated him as did their elders, most 
shamefully. 

" So the lad, who was dwarfed and ugly in body, gave up 
playing with other children, and went off daily by himself among 
the lonely hills. He wanted, above all things, to grow large and 
very strong. Now his foster-mother had told him how to do 
this. Therefore, one day, as he was standing between the high 
mountains, he cried aloud: 

" ' Lord of strength, come forth ! Lord of strength, come to 
me!' 

" At once a huge animal, an Amarok, appeared and stood 
beside him. He was greatly frightened, and started to run. 
The beast was very swift, and catching him, twisted its tail 



294 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



about him and threw him to the ground. Then he heard a rat- 
tling, as of bones. Again and again he was thrown down. 
Each time small seal-bones seemed to fall from him. The 
Amarok said : 

" 'These bones have stopped thy growth. If thou wishest to 
become strong, come here every day.' 

" As the dwarf ran home, he felt lighter in body than ever 
before. He met his mates, and, as usual, they pelted him with 
mud, and he went to sleep among the dogs. He said not a 
word of what had happened ; bore kicks and blows patiently, 
but each day crept away to visit the friendly monster. And 
each day he felt new life. He ran, and hurled the rocks right 
and left, and rejoiced in coming strength. Finally the beast 
could not overpower him, and thereupon told him he was 
able to conquer any man living. He was very happy, but still 
kept the secret safe. 

" In the Autumn an enormous piece of drift-wood was towed 
in, and left on the beach. None could remove it. During the 
night the lad stole down and bore it on his shoulders to the 
village. In the morning all were amazed at the deed, but none 
could guess who did it. All this time the quiet boy endured 
every hardship from the people. When winter set in none 
could go out hunting. By and by they were in danger of starv- 
ing. One day word came that three bears were in sight on an 
iceberg. All wished the flesh, but none dared be the first in the 
attack. Then the ragged Kagsagsuk put on his mother's boots, 
ran through the crowd, his heels almost touching his neck, and 
climbed the iceberg easily. The bears raised their powerful 
paws, but he made himself ' hard ' by magic, and one by one 
killed them, and threw them among the astonished bystanders. 



HIS REVENGE. 



295 



The bear-skins he gave to his mother, and ordered the flesh to 
be cooked. 

" By this time all were extremely civil to the poor lad. The 
best of everything was offered him, while the men trembled be- 
fore him. Each one had some present to make as a peace- 
offering. After supper he easily seized and crushed or tore in 
pieces all who had treated him badly, but saved those who had 
been kind to him. Afterwards he sailed far up and down the 
coasts, and was the greatest hunter in the tribe, and a terror to 
man and beast." 

How do you like that ? If you think little Kagsagsuk's re- 
venge was cruel, you must remember how he was brought up, 
and the savage tribe he belonged to. Your stories should teach 
you better ; do they ? 



296 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



CHAPTER XII. 

BABIES AWAY UP IN THE CORNER ; THE LITTLE TUSKI. 

AWAY up in the very tip-top corner of Asia, so far east that it 
almost touches the western half of the world, lives a jolly little 
soul, which, according to the geography, we must call a Tchul- 
ski baby. 

You'll be glad to hear, the first thing, that an English officer, 
Lieutenant Hooper, who spent nearly a year among these peo- 
ple, learned to talk with them, and of course knows better than 
the geography, says the name should be Tuski. 

Tuski let it be then, and queer ways the little people of this 
queer name have, I can tell you. Droll-looking little round bundles 
of fur they are, with wide, yellowish faces, and merry black eyes. 

The Tuski girl dresses exactly like her mamma in a garment 
which we may call a dress, a hood, or a pair of trowsers, or which- 
ever we like, for it is all three in one. It is made of skin with 
the hair outside. The hood has a border of wolf or dog-skin, 
which is considered very elegant, and when thrown back off the 
head this border looks like a very odd sort of fur collar standing 
up around the neck. 

If the girl's parents belong to the well-to-do classes, her 
dress is of reindeer or fawn-skin, but if they are poor, she has to 
content herself with seal skin, poor thing ! From the neck her 
dress is very full, and hangs in folds, but is drawn in about the 



QUEER WATERPROOFS. 



297 



knees with what you might call trowsers, and up over the edge 
of these come the long fur boots, or moccasins. 

She is very comfortable you see, and she is also in fashion, for 
she wears her hair banged ! 

If she goes out in the snow, that is if she is obliged to go far, 
she wears a cloak. This is a funny-looking thing, very thin, and 
almost transparent, and looks about as warm as one of gauze. 
It isn't for warmth, however, it is to keep the snow and the 
wet from reaching her furs ; it is in fact a sort of waterproof, and 
deserves the name of " gossamer waterproof " if any such does. 

It is made of the intestines of seals or some other marine 
animal, which looks, as perhaps you know, like the extremely 
thin rubber of a toy balloon, or like a bladder. When cut open, 
these are in long strips like narrow ribbon, and they have to be 
carefully sewed together to make the cloaks. Sometimes 
between the strips are sewed narrow fringes of fur, or bright-col- 
ored material which makes them gay. 

Not only the girls wear these cloaks, but the boys, and the 
men and the women ; and really, without them, traveling would 
be almost impossible. Why ? well, I'm sure you'd never guess 
the reason, though if you had the misfortune to take a ride in 
that land of snow and wind, you'd soon find out. They are to 
keep the snow from getting into the fur of their clothes. Snow 
when dry and light, as it is there, gets among the hairs, clogs up, 
and soon loads a person down so heavily that he can hardly 
stand. So every one that goes out of the house wraps up in a 
big cloak, and keeps dry. 

The Tuski boys dress differently. They wear two caps of fur, 
a shirt of fur with the hair inside, then a large coat, or rather a 
frock of deer-skin reaching to the knees. Their trowsers reach 



298 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



to the ankle, and are tied around the waist by a gathering-string. 
Ah, boys, pity them ! the little Tuski can never know the de- 
light of his first pair of suspenders. 

But then we must not forget that dressing like a man has no 
particular charm for him, for he always dresses exactly like his 
father. There are no " knickerbockers " to be out-grown, no 
jackets or buttoned blouses to be discarded for vest and coat. 
He's a little man from the very first. 

There is one thing he has, which his father has not, and that 
is a fur cushion at the back of his head, to protect him in case 
he falls, and as a support. But that is only while he is a baby, 
and cannot walk very well, 

Coming up over his trowsers are his moccasins or boots, 
made of the skin from the leg of the reindeer, with soles of seal 
or walrus hide. Mittens and belt finish his dress. The most ele- 
gant garment he can hope to have is of dogskin, with long, silky, 
jet-black hair. 

Of course he must have his hair cut off the top of his head 
[that's why he needs two caps I suppose]. The whole top of his 
head, to be in style, must be bare, but a fringe about three 
inches deep may be allowed to grow all around the head just 
where it would come out from under one of your caps. 

All this is outdoors ; in the house it is different, though they 
never have what we should call a fire. They have nothing to 
keep them warm or to cook with, except an oil lamp ! 

This sounds badly I must say, but you may save your pity. 
The Tuski little folk do not suffer with cold. In fact their 
rooms are exceedingly warm, hot you may say, since the ther- 
mometer often goes up to ioo°, and that we call terrible heat in 
summer. 



A SEMI-LUCENT HOUSE. 



299 



And only a lamp ! (I almost hear you say.) Yes truly, only a 
lamp ; but a very good one as you can guess, and a curious 
house, the oddest we've heard of yet. It is made entirely of 
skins. Outside and inside, floors and roof, doors and windows, 
walls, partitions, and beds, each and all of skins. 

A tent? surely; but a strange one. It is made, outside, of 
walrus hide, but prepared in such a way that it is not only soft 
and thick, but lets a good deal of light through. " Semi-lucent " 
Hooper calls it, and that is so light that they need no windows, 
that's almost like a glass [ground glass] house, isn't it ? 

Let us suppose our Tuski youngster has a rich father, and a 
large family. His tent will be of good size, perhaps thirty or 
forty feet in diameter, and round in shape, so that the snow will 
not drift about the corners, nor the winds find any hold by 
which to blow it over. The wind of that country, by the way, 
is more terrible than you can imagine. 

The walrus skin wall of the house is held up by a frame of 
bones ! Truly, the great ribs of whales, stuck in the ground, 
and resting at the top on one or two props. To this frame the 
skin cover is fitted, and sewed nicely to shape, and a skin door 
makes the outside complete, except a banking up of snow to 
keep the air out, and help hold it against the wind. 

But the inside is the oddest. In most tents, you know, the 
inside is all one room with the fire in the middle. In the Tuski 
tent, the middle is only the front hall you may say, the place 
where food is stored, and dog teams unharnessed, where sledges 
are unloaded, and heavy work is done, and property housed. 

The rooms to live in are in a row around the wall, and remind 
one of the stalls for locomotives in a railroad " round house." 
Each room is in fact a sort of stall, built of skins of course, and 



300 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



having its own roof and walls, and its own door. It is six or 
eight feet deep, and, if the house belongs to a chief, it is high 
enough to stand up in. If it belongs to a poorer man the rooms 
may only be high enough to sit up in, say three feet. 

You must remember that in each of these " cubby-holes " lives 
a mother and her children, not to count the father There all 
the meals are cooked and eaten, here the children play, and the 
mother sews, here they all sleep at night Ugh ! how dreadful ! 

Yet it suits them. You can see now how one lamp will make 
a room uncomfortably warm, so that the grown-ups throw back 
their fur clothes, and the children throw theirs nearly all off. 
And you can see that chairs and tables, bedsteads and bureaus 
are not wanted here. The floor, neatly covered with walrus skin, 
is chair and bedstead and table, and certain swinging shelves 
overhead are bureau, trunk, and clothes-horse. 

Outside in the big room, the roof of those little stalls looks 
like a hay mow, for hay or dried grass is piled up there to keep 
out cold. 

The lamp which warms and lights and cooks for this house of 
skins, is a dish of an oval shape filled with oil, and a row of bits 
of moss, called " weet-o-weet," through the middle. It is a soft, 
beautiful light, and when well trimmed, has no smoke and no 
odor, but immense heat. And not a man or a boy ever is al- 
lowed to touch it, while a girl is carefully taught, for the lamp 
is the woman's charge. 

Dinner-time comes, and what shall this queer family eat ? Let 
me tell you what they gave to a guest, whom they wanted to be 
very polite to. The party sat around on the floor, and the lady 
of the house brought in a dish of frozen fish, to begin the meal. 

The natives crunched them down as though they were nice, 



WHALE'S SKIN FOR DINNER. 



301 



but the guest, finding that the fish was not prepared according 
to our notions, could not eat it. 

This course being finished, the wooden dish was cleaned by a 
scrape with the fingers of the hostess, and the next one brought 
on. This was even more unpleasant than the first, being the 
contents of the reindeer's stomach, cut in slices, and eaten with 
blubber. This too the Tuski family devoured with relish. 

Next came boiled meat, seal and walrus, which was not bad, 
and after it another peculiar Tuski delicacy. It was the thick 
black skin of the whale, cut in small squares, and the guest 
found it very nice, crisp, and tasting like cocoanut. The next 
course was boiled reindeer flesh ; and lastly, as the greatest treat 
in all Tuski land, a dish of the gums of a whale, in which the 
ends of the whalebone could still be seen. Much to his surprise, 
the English gentleman found this to be really delicious, with the 
flavor of cream cheese. 

After dinner came smoking, and then a long drink from the 
water-cask, when each man swallowed as much as two quarts, 
the traveler says. 

Besides the enormous meals they eat, the people have a 
curious habit of munching snow or ice. They keep vessels of 
it in- the tents, and nearly all the time are nibbling at it, between 
meals. 

When bed-time comes for the little Tuski, the mother spreads 
a pile of soft skins for each one ; if she has guests she hangs 
curtains of skins around the bed, and everybody wraps himself 
up in his furs, tucks the edges of the curtains under his skin 
bed, and goes to sleep, if he can. Then the careful mother 
hangs all the wet moccasins, the soaked mittens, and everything 
needed to be dried, in the lattice shelves overhead, and goes to 



302 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



her own private pile of skins to sleep. The dogs huddle together 
in the outside room, the door of the tent is closed, and the 
Tuski house, or yarang, is ready for the long, cold night. 

I'm afraid you don't see how the little people can have a very 
nice time, living higglety-pigglety, we may say, in little stalls 
around the wall. But they do. They have plays, and toys. 
The girls have dolls, of course, for which they make clothes 
like their own, that will come off. They play Tuski life with 
their dear pets, as you play American life with yours. They 
have toys carved out of ivory, and they have embroidery. 

Of embroidery the little black-eyed girls are very fond. They 
decorate not only the cloaks I spoke of, but caps and mittens, 
and belts for father and brothers ; even the side seams of their 
fur boots are aften ornamented in this way. 

Their embroidery is not like yours ; no silk or crewel, no gold 
thread or beads go to this fancy work, away up in the corner of 
Asia. Reindeer hair dyed in bright colors, and bits of leather 
and fur (also sometimes dyed) cut into fancy shapes and sewed 
on, or put together like a sort of patchwork ; these are the 
materials of which the Tuski girl makes her pretty things. Then 
she has the dance, which Hooper tells about. 

The dances of these queer little bundles of fur are extremely 
funny. In one dance a long row of girls took hold of hands, 
and moved to the sound of a sort of two stringed fiddle which 
they have. They began with mincing steps, and droll twists of 
the arms and head. First the middle of the line danced back- 
wards, while the ends kept in place, till the line was the shape 
of a semi-circle. Then the middle came back to place, and the 
two ends danced backwards till the semi-circle turned the other 
way. 



THE RABBIT DAXCE. 



303 



Then the line came up straight again, and all together moved 
forward a few steps, and then all back a few steps. After doing 
this several times they separated, and quietly formed again 
behind the player, as if to surprise him. This they did two or 
three times, and the dance was done. 

But the most amusing dance was performed by three little 
girls, and is a very common play among the children. They 
stood up in a row, with toes turned in, and hands hidden in the 
opposite sleeves, and played a lively sort of pantomime. The 
middle one turned first to one and then to the other, and seemed 
to now coax them on, and now drive them away, while the two 
outside ones gave little sidewise jumps, at one moment turning 
the face towards the middle one, and the next moment turning 
away. 

All the time they were slowly chanting a song, and suddenly, 
at the end of the verse, all three jumped entirely around, say- 
ing: 

"Um! urn! urn ! " in a satisfied tone, and then threw their 
bodies into three extraordinary contortions, which the gentle- 
man who describes the play cannot describe, yet were the fun- 
niest he ever saw, and always made him shout with laughter. 
The chant was about the rabbit and the ermine, and he thinks 
the dance in some way told the story of the chase and catching 
of poor bunny. The " um ! " was probably the grunt of pleas- 
ure of the naughty ermine, and the queer movement after it 
may be in imitation of the rabbit's wriggling to get away. 

The boys also have their toys and plays. They have little 
sledges, and all sorts of animals cut from ivory. Then they have 
wrestling and running games. They sit on the floor two of 
them, feet against feet, and try to pull each other over; or they 



304 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



squat opposite each other and try the same thing. Funniest of 
all, they put one band around their two necks, and try to pull 
each other over by leaning back. Big boys and even men try 
these games. 

They have many gymnastic feats, jumping distances, and 
also jumping into the air and kicking a bar off, and other ways 
of amusing themselves. 

Then the grown-ups have a sort of theatrical entertainment, 
which the little people also enjoy, for there's no such thing in 
Tuski land as shutting up the youngsters in the nursery while 
father and mother go out ; where the big folks go, there also go 
the little ones. 

The thing they are most fond of in their performances is an 
imitation of the manners and customs of their neighbors the 
Eskimos. Though the latter belong to America, and the Tuski 
to Asia, they are separated only by a narrow strait, as you'll see 
if you look on your map of Asia. * 

No doubt Eskimo ways seem to them very droll, and the man 
who can imitate them is sure of an audience and plenty of fun. 
He dresses like them, even to wearing only one mitten, which is 
a custom among Eskimos, and he mimics their voice and their 
tone. 

Then, while the musicians are making as much noise as they 
can, with fiddles and drums, he goes through the whole round 
of Eskimo life, paddling in a canoe, hunting for an enemy, eat- 
ing and drinking and fighting. Even his hunts are imitated — 
catching a whale in which part of the time the actor is the Es- 
kimo, and part of the time he's the whale. 

All through the play, which of course is meant to make fun of 
their neighbors, the Tuskies applaud, crying : 



DOGS WEAR OVERSHOES. 



305 



" Kah ! Kah ! Kah ! " 

And from beginning to end is a low sort of gurgle of satis- 
faction, and a constant talk, not so very different from our 
entertainments after all, you see. 

Besides this there are dancing, or rather posturing to music, 
where the feet are not moved, and of course story-telling. It 
would be hard to find a spot in Asia where story-telling was not 
one of the best-loved entertainments. 

When the little Tuski goes out to ride it is on a sledge drawn 
by reindeer, with lines from the horns, or by six or eight dogs 
running side by side. If there are sharp particles of ice on the 
crust of snow, as is often the case, the dogs must have on their 
overshoes, little funny leather ones, tied on with shoestrings. 
These poor creatures — the dogs — have a hard life, and are often 
treated cruelly. They are fed very little, and often go three or 
four days without a morsel to eat. When traveling, and the 
traveler is buried in his furs to sleep, the wretched dogs have to 
burrow into the snow to keep from freezing. 

When the traveler reaches a tent, he is instantly made wel- 
come, even if he doesn't bring letters of introduction with him. 
A dish of frozen fish is set before him, and, as soon as it can be 
made ready, a warm meal. 

When a party of Tuski visited the ship of the English party 
of whose doings Lieutenant Hooper writes, they were somewhat 
embarrassed to entertain them. For the ordinary English dishes 
— preserved meats and such things — the Tuski had a great con- 
tempt, but a tallow candle was a sweet morsel, to be eaten like 
a banana, and off the blubber the ship kept for the dogs, they 
made a good meal. 

There was one treat the English could give them, however, 



306 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



and that was a lump of sugar. But they had the funniest way 
of eating it that you ever heard of. They would roll the lump 
in a piece of tobacco leaf, put it carefully in their cheek, and 
hold it there till it dissolved ! This sweet morsel they call laloop, 
and it was the choicest they ever knew. 

The magnet was a great mystery to them, and they thought 
the owner of one was a wizard. A man who could make a bit 
of iron lift up other iron things, and above all could make 
needles dance about it, could do any uncanny thing he wanted 
to, they were perfectly sure. 

Perhaps nothing the English had so much delighted them (at 
any rate the woman who had the lamps to light) as matches. 
The poor Tuski woman, to light her lamp, works eight or ten 
minutes very hard, twirling a stick in a hole in a piece of wood, 
before she gets a spark, and the instant light of the match was a 
miracle to her. The gift of half a dozen matches was to her a 
royal present, and called forth blessings on the head of the 
giver. 



PIGS RIDE TO MARKET. 



307 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE LITTLE OLD MAN BABY ; THE CHINESE. 

The little old man baby lives in the queerest country in the 
world, where the bald-headed baby looks like his grandfather, 
and the grown-up ladies can't walk (to speak of). 

Everything in that strange land is the wrong way, to us, and 
it is enough to drive one crazy to be suddenly set down in one 
of their queer cities. Their wheelbarrows have sails, and their 
pigs ride to market in a basket ; their books begin where ours 
end, read backward, have the title on the front edge, and foot- 
notes at the top of the page ; their carpenters sit down and 
work towards themselves, instead of from themselves, as ours ; 
and so far from drawing near to the stove to get warm, each 
one carries his own stove about in his hands or in his sleeve ; 
they have no Sunday, and they dun a man by carrying off his 
front door, to keep till he pays up. Their signs stand on end, 
and they keep on their caps to be polite. 

This land of queer things is China, and it is full of wonders 
for us. Here is a picture of the wheelbarrow with a sail. It 
shows a family on a journey, and though it has a sail, you see it 
is so loaded that it takes a donkey to pull, and papa himself to 
push, to get it along. Mamma and the baby, and the little 
daughter, ride with the baggage, the son rides the donkey, and 
only the father and the dog walk. 



308 LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 

If you should see the droll little yellow-skinned baby, with 
his eyes set in bias, strapped tight to the back of an older 
brother or sister, and jouncing around the street as its careless 
nurse plays, or runs, or jumps about, you would think, wouldn't 
you, that babies weren't much prized in China? 




WHEELBARROW WITH A SAIL. 

But you would be greatly mistaken, for nowhere on this 
round globe of ours is there so much rigmarole, and so many 
ceremonies over a youngster as in China, unless, indeed, a 



A LOCK OF THE CAT'S HAIR. 



309 



family has more of them than it wants. In that case they sim- 
ply drown the new-comer, as we drown a superfluous kitten. 

The first thing done is a ceremony to keep baby from being 
frightened by anything; and when you come to see the frightful 
things the Chinese delight in, you'll think this a very necessary 
performance with the little Chinese. 

It is a solemn affair. On a piece of red paper are written two 
words, and in the paper are folded several articles: two of the 
fruits used for soap, to ensure that baby shall be a neat and tidy 
person ; some pith of a rush used in writing, to make him fortu- 
nate in life; one or two onions, to make him intelligent; two 
pieces of charcoal, that he may be strong ; a lock of hair from 
a cat, and another from a dog, to prevent him from being 
frightened by the noises of these animals. 

This collection of articles is wrapped in the red paper, tied 
with a red string, and hung outside the nursery door as a charm. 

Even then, however, the little yellow baby isn't safe ; precau- 
tions must be taken inside. A pair of papa's pantaloons must 
be hung on the bedstead, with the waist part lowest (upside 
down). Upon these is put a paper in which is written the re- 
quest that all bad influences will kindly go into the garment, 
instead of troubling baby. 

They can't be so bad as people pretend, I'm sure, if they'll 
heed this request. 

But there's a worse evil than being frightened that threatens 
the China baby (not to speak of other youngsters), and that is 
the danger that he may be a thief, or a meddler, or, worst of all, 
disobedient ! 

You may think this is hard to prevent in so young a person, 
but nothing is easier to a Chinese. A bit of red cord, and 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



perhaps a few cash (or small pieces of money) are all that is 
necessary. The cord, with the cash strung on it, is tied around 
his wrists, either connecting the two, or each one separate. 
Quite simple, you see ! 

These serious matters all carefully attended to, the Chinese 
baby may be considered safe for a week or two, and then the 
charms are taken away. 

At one month old, the little fellow makes the acquaintance 
of a person whom he can never do without as long as he lives, 
that is, if he happens to be a boy. This is the barber, who 
shaves the poor little head of both girl and boy, though the 
girl dispenses with his services after a while. 

This first shave is a great occasion ; friends are invited, and a 
feast given, and the youngster gets a name. It is not for life, 
as yours is, it is only to last till he goes to school, and it is 
called his " milk name." The name may be Rose, or Jasmine, 
or Patience, or Number One, or Number Two, or any other fan- 
ciful name. 

After this shaving there is allowed to grow on boys a little 
fringe on the back of the head to begin the cue, which as 
soon as possible is gummed up, and tied with red silk into a 
baby pigtail an inch long, and sticks straight out from the head 
in a very droll way, as you see in this picture of three children 
at play. The boy in the middle shows the little cue. This 
funny picture was made by a Chinese artist. Jolly babies, 
aren't -they ? 

Now the little Chinese, being well protected by charms to 
keep off evil, is allowed to live in peace till he gets to be four 
months old, when there comes another feast, and another great 
ceremony. The child is taught to sit in a chair ! 



FIRST BABY-CHAIR. 



3H 



For this important occasion his grandmother provides a 
curious-looking chair, painted red, and a quantity of sticky 
candy. It must be very sticky, for it is put in the chair and 
baby seated upon it, and it serves to keep him from slipping 
out, and get him used to sitting up straight ! Queer ways 
among these " Celestial " neighbors of ours. 




HAVING A GOOD TIME. 



This first baby-chair is sometimes gilded, playthings are hung 
up to amuse the solemn-faced little old man, and he is now 
expected to content himself with seeing life from his own chair. 

The next great day in his life comes when he is a year old, 
and, unconscious baby as he is, he decides the occupation of his 
whole life. A feast is made, and friends are invited to see him 



312 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



make his choice, which he does in a genuine Chinese way, of 
course. 

It is a sort of object-lesson. A large bamboo sieve is brought 
in, in which are several things — a set of money-scales, a pair of 
shears, a foot measure, a brass mirror, a pencil, ink, paper, a 
book or two, the Abacus (or counting machine, of balls strung 
on wires in a frame), some silver or gold ornaments, fruits, and 
other things. Why so many ? Because when one has to choose 
for life he needs a variety. 

The sieve, with its curious contents, is placed on the table, 
and the black-eyed baby, in span-new garments, is seated in the 
sieve, with all these treasures before him. 

Now is the fateful moment ; his friends hang breathless on 
his decision. All these objects are within reach of his hand, and 
the one he takes up decides his fate, because they think it shows 
his natural tastes. 

If he takes up a book, or pen, he is destined to be a scholar, 
and will be educated for it ; if the money-scales attract his baby 
eyes, or the silver or gold, his fate is to make money ; if the 
fruit is the object of his choice, alas, he will be greedy ; and if 
the mirror, vain ! History does not say what is done with the 
unfortunate baby who shows a dreadful tendency to greediness 
by selecting fruit, or to vanity by the attraction of a bright mir- 
ror, but I suppose the parents are mortified and grieved, and no 
doubt they have some powerful charm which will correct the evil 
in their beloved baby. 

While very young the little Chinese is taught " manners," 
how to come into a room, to bow very low to parents or those 
older than himself, even till his head nearly touches the floor, 
and to " chin-chin." This is their polite greeting, taking the 



GILDED HAIR. 



313 



place of our hand-shaking. It looks funny enough, for it is a 
sort of shaking hands with one's self. The hands are doubled 
up like fists, put together and shaken at the person to be 
greeted. 

The child also learns great deference for his parents, and calls 
his father " Family's Majesty" or " Venerable Father " instead 
of simply " Papa," like you ignorant western barbarians. 

The dress of the boy about this time, and forever after, is like 
his grandfather's, and he looks like the venerable old gentleman 
seen through the wrong end of a spy-glass. If he belongs to a rich 
family, the dress is of rich material and gay colors, and if to 
a poor one, it is the same shape but of coarse stuff. Around 
his neck he wears charms to keep him from danger and evil. 

The China girl wears also jacket and trowsers of gay colors, 
with bangles and chains and many ornaments. She wears her 
hair down her back in one or two braids, and over her forehead 
she has — bangs ! For full dress she may have her hair gilded. 
That is horrid, you think, but wait till I tell you how the mam- 
mas arrange their hair ! 

But the youngsters grow, school days come. Now the boy 
takes his books — no ! excuse me — he takes no books, he is fit- 
ted out with a curious set of school things. Two small candles ! 
a few sticks of incense ! ! and a little paper mock-money ! ! ! 

Books are respected in his school, but more important is 
" deportment." He must learn how to behave to parents, to 
strangers, on all occasions. He must learn to walk through the 
streets, and a thousand other things. Above all he must burn 
incense and mock-money before the figure of Confucius, whom 
the Chinese honor as their greatest wise man. 

Ah, the poor little Chinese ! School is a hard place for him. 



3H 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



He goes as early in the morning as he can see to read ; at break- 
fast-time, if he knows his lesson, he goes home and eats that 
meal and returns to the school-room till night, or it is too dark 
to see. 

No\V he has a new name, his school name, and a queer one 
too ; it may be " Ink-grinder " or " Promising study " or " En- 
tering virtue," or some other equally appropriate. 

After six months of training in behavior, he begins books ; not 
A-B-C books, like yours. No indeed ! the unfortunate little 
Chinese plunges at once into the biggest and wisest book, that 
takes the wisdom of men to understand. He begins on Confu- 
cius. Each Chinese character is a word, and before he can 
read tolerably he must be familiar with three thousand of them. 

See him as he goes to school with books enough for a big- 
ger boy. Now you can see his cue is a good deal longer. 
And here, too, is the Chinese girl with her bangs, and her funny 
cap. (See title page.) 

In school, each scholar studies at the top of his voice, sway- 
ing back and forth undisturbed by the babel around him, and 
he recites standing with his back to the teacher. After he has 
gone through Confucius, and another work of the same sort, 
which takes three or four years, he can go to college if he likes, 
and if he was so unfortunate as to take up a book when he sat 
in his bamboo sieve, I suppose he will have to do it. 

If the teacher wishes to give the pupils a treat, he invites 
them, not to a picnic or an excursion, but to a feast in honor of 
Confucius. He gives each boy a white paper fan, on which is 
written a quotation from the Chinese wise books, and perhaps 
also to each one a toy. 

When you see the sort of teacher the little Chinese has, you 



PITY THE CHINA BOY 3 1 5 

will not be surprised at any queer thing he may do. Here he 
is. 




SCHOOLMASTER 



How different the school days of the little China boy from 
yours ! You pity him, and think he has a hard time ; let me 
tell you about the girls. 



316 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



The child-life of a Chinese girl of the higher classes is a long, 
long agony of pain so great that many prefer to die. All for 
the purpose of having what we consider a deformity, little feet ; 
so small that their owners cannot walk, except in a tottering 
manner, holding on to something. 

While still very young the poor girl's feet are bandaged with 
long narrow strips of muslin, which draw the toes down under 
the sole, and make, after years of suffering, a foot of three or 
four inches long, with a sort of club foot above it. 

From earliest infancy, a twelve-year-old bride told Mrs. 
Feudge her sufferings had been unspeakable. She often be- 
came frantic and tore off the bandages, and when they were put 
on again she would become delirious. After five or six years 
the pain gradually grew less, and at that age she did not think 
much about it except when the bandages were taken off, when 
the torture was worse than she could say. 

Yet, how dreadful the power of custom ! without this de- 
formity no Chinese lady could enter society, and no Chinese 
gentleman would take her for a wife. She goes tottering 
through life carried about in a chair, or on the back of her maid, 
who holds her hands behind her, to receive her mistress's knees; 
and so she is very aristocratic and elegant, and helpless, and her 
friends are proud of her. The Chinese girl has no " young 
lady" life. How could she? She is married at twelve years, 
and jumps from her dolls to wifehood. The marriage is, as 
with all the army of Asiatic girls, arranged by her parents. 

When the matter is announced to the child, her bangs are 
brushed back, and her hair is " done up." 

Now this is a curious affair, and I want to tell you about it. 
It is drawn back from the forehead, made stiff with gum, and 



HAIR DRESSED ONCE A WEEK, 



317 



then piled up in a wonderful mass of bows, and loops, and 
wings, and rolls, all so firm with the gum that they stay where 
put, and need no hairpins. The whole outside is in perfect 
order ; such a thing as mussy hair is unknown. 

This structure lasts a week ! and is adorned with flowers or 
jewels, for dress occasions, and the miserable owner sleeps with 
a leather pillow under her neck, or packs her whole head safely 
away in a box. I should think she'd want to take it off, as well 
as her feet. 

From the time our little girl is engaged, even if it were when 
she was a baby, as is sometimes done, she has to " turn over a 
new leaf," you may say, in her manners. She must see no com- 
pany at home, and if she goes out she goes in a close sedan 
chair. She must even be very reserved with her own broth- 
ers. 

Then, before the wedding day, the bridegroom receives 
another new name, with a feast and ceremonies, of course. 

The things that have to be done, the charms to keep away 
evil, the ceremonies, the processions, and the thousand other 
performances that have to be gone through to marry our China 
boy and girl, are something appalling. And they're not sure 
till the very last minute that they will really be married, for if 
they happen to do anything unlucky, as break a dish, or lose 
something, the whole thing comes to an end. 

If everything goes off right, the girl goes at last in a red sedan 
chair to her husband's house, to the home of his father and 
mother, where she becomes their slave and drudge for the rest 
of her life. They may punish her by whipping, even publicly, 
and they may put her in a cage in the street for everybody to 
see, with a sign to hold her up to utmost contempt of every- 



3 i8 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



body. u Unfilial." If still she is not obedient, they may whip 
her to death, and nobody interferes. 

The wedding calls are as different from ours, as everything 
else they do. First the gentlemen come in, and the young hus- 
band praises his wife, mentions her little feet, and her delicate 
hands, and so on, and then he invites them into another room 
for refreshments. The ladies then come in, and they set them- 
selves to making remarks, criticising the bride, and saying un- 
pleasant things. The object is to try her temper. If she keeps 
good-natured, her reputation is made for life ; but if she gets 
angry, she is always considered bad-tempered. 

No wonder girl babies are often drowned or given away. The 
cost of marrying one is so enormous that only the rich can do 
it properly. The parents have the care and expense of bring- 
ing her up, and theh she is married, and lost to them. 

This picture shows a young China girl, with her newly mar- 
ried husband. She does not belong to the upper class, because, 
you see, she has full-sized feet. But see her curious dress, and 
her head decoration. 

Oh dear ! let's go back to the little people. The last ceremony 
of childhood is " going through the door" to man and woman- 
hood. It is a very imposing affair. 

The door is a tall frame of bamboo, like door-posts, and it is 
set in the middle of the floor. There are priests and musicians : 
there is a procession led by a priest with a horn, and through 
the door goes solemnly the youth or maiden after him. 

The door is placed in each corner of the room, one after 
another, and the procession winds around and goes through it 
again and again. Now the child is of age, but don't fancy that 
he, or she, can do as he likes. Never, so long as his father or 



HE CAN NEVER DO AS HE LIKES. 



319 




JUST MARRIED. 



mother lives can a Chinaman do as he likes. He must do as 
they say in everything, or be punished. Unfilial conduct is one 
of the worst of crimes in China. His wages go to them, his 
business is managed by them, however old, and however un- 
reasonable they may be. 



320 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



But although the little Chinese is taught not to romp and 
play undignified games, though his school life is hard, and he 
can never do as he likes, still he has lots of fun. 

In the first place he has many sorts of street shows, marion- 
ettes, or dancing dolls, which spin around, flourish their arms, 
and in various ways amuse the youngsters who crowd around to 
see ; peep-shows, where he can look into a hole in a box and 
see wonderful things ; and shadow puppets, who swallow knives, 
turn somersets, and do other strange things. 

Here you see one of these puppet-shows. The feet on the 
bench show that a man is behind the curtains, and working the 
shadows. How interested the people look! not only the little 
folk, but big ones as well ; even a woman with her fine fan has 
stopped to see the wonder. 

Then there are street processions on the birthdays of popular 
Chinese gods. One is a stilt performance, where men dress 
in fantastic dress, and walk through the streets singing and 
chanting, sometimes thrusting out one stilt into the air, and 
again whirling around, or otherwise showing off what they can 
do. 

There is also the game of dragon. The dragon is an immense 
creature made of bamboo hoops, covered with cloth, and 
painted to look as a dragon is supposed to look. This object 
can be lighted up by lanterns inside, and it is held up on poles 
by boys or men, and carried around the streets. It is many 
feet long, and can be turned and twisted about, which makes it 
look very much alive. 

The boys, too, play shuttlecock, with the soles of their feet. 
In fact, this game is more like football, as you see in this pic- 
ture, which was taken from an old Chinese painting. The dress 




THE SHADOW MAN. 



322 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 




WITH THEIR FEET. 

of the boys is different from the common boys' dress nowadays, 
you will notice. 

Another game is a lion chasing a ball. Perhaps a Chinese 
lion would like a ball, and, anyway, they fancy he would like to 
play with it as puss plays with one. 



QUEER KITES. 



323 



The lion is of course an immense creature, made of bamboo 
and cloth, and it is carried by two boys, who put their heads 
and shoulders inside his body, something as you American boys 
.make an elephant with a gray blanket or shawl. Sometimes 
the boys' legs are painted to represent the legs of the lion. The 
animal has his mouth open (for the convenience of the boy 
inside, who must see out), and he runs after a third boy, who 
carries a big ball. They dodge about the streets, and make a 
great deal of fun. 

But, above and before all, the little Chinaman has the kite. 
China is the headquarters of this toy, and not only boys but 
grown-up men spend hours flying them. They are of all sizes 
and shapes; men and women, dragons, bats, and butterflies, 
spectacles, and ships, bouquets of flowers, and pagodas, or great 
buildings, lighted up inside. 

There are snakes that wriggle and twist, flocks of birds that 
fly from a hawk, trees whose fruits explode in fireworks, and 
kites that give out music as they fly. In fact, there's hardly an 
object you can think of that is not made into a kite, and put up 
in the air of China, and some are so large it takes three or four 
men to hold them. 

There is a special day, the ninth day of the ninth month, 
specially devoted to kites, and every China boy or man in the 
kingdom tries to put up one of the delightful things. Some- 
times as many as forty thousand people will be out on this busi- 
ness, or pleasure, and a hill or plain near a Chinese city must be 
a curious sight indeed on kite day. 

There's another thing that one thinks of always as a part of a 
Chinaman, and that is a lantern. It is hard to tell whether 
more ado is made over the kite than the lantern. 



324 LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 




TIGER OF WAR AND A BRAVE. 



In the first place, every person is obliged by law to carry one 
at night, and the streets are filled with thousands of them, even' 
the soldier in the ranks carries his lantern, and a Chinese soldier 
is a curious object even without a lantern, as you see in this 
picture of " a Tiger of war and a Brave." 



PERFORMING LANTERNS. 



325 



A lantern-shop is an interesting place to go to, and people are 
there in crowds, especially at the time of the Feast of Lanterns. 
When one has made a purchase in this crowded shop, and wants 
to get out without smashing his fragile lantern, he hoists it on 
a pole, and squeezes out through the mass. 

They have lanterns of all shapes and sorts, in greater variety 
even than the kites. They have them in the shape of animals, 
and men ; some roll on the ground and keep lighted ; some 
gallop like a horse, and others whirl like a top. There are ships 
that sail, and soldiers that march. 

In all these performances the hot air, heated by the candle 
inside, is the power that makes them go. 

Some lanterns are made of red paper with patterns in holes; 
others are elegantly painted ; some are carried in the hand, 
others hung on the wall. The most costly are covered with 
silk gauze, and beautifully painted. 

The Feast of Lanterns comes on the first full moon of the year, 
and is a great occasion, when everybody hangs lanterns of vari- 
ous kinds before his door, and all the house is lighted up. There 
are processions, music, and fireworks, of course, for these three 
things are a part of almost every Chinese merrymaking. 

Another amusement, though perhaps it is more for the grown- 
ups, is the theater, and it is so odd that I must tell you about 
it. If there is no regular building for it, temporary sheds or 
light buildings are put up for the purpose ; a great crowd col- 
lects, and the play begins. The stage is a simple affair, and the 
acting is more like child's play than like an entertainment for 
grown-up people. 

For instance, if a man is sent off on horseback to deliver a 
message, he will take a whip, pretend to mount a horse, and 



326 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



gallop across the stage. When he reaches the other side he 
stops, and cries out that he has got there, and delivers his mes- 
sage. Ghosts or other supernatural creatures come up through 
a big trap-door, and if they feel like it, call for help to get up. 
There's not even an attempt to delude anybody, which we in 
our theaters take such pains to do. 

But the funniest is yet to be told ; the play lasts three days 
and nights ! They do not sit there every moment ; the audience 
has now and then a recess for eating or sleeping. We should 
think they would be tired out, but on the contrary they are so 
interested that they stay away as short a time as possible. 

They are fond of bringing in characters we never meddle 
with, as the sun and moon. The persons who take these charac- 
ters represent it by some sign, as a moon on a pole, or a figure 
to represent the sun. The female parts are played by boys, and 
the dress of the actors is like nothing you ever saw, as you see 
in this picture. 

New Year's Day is another great time, when everybody calls 
on his friends, or sends his cards ; when everybody pays his 
debts, if he can, and three days are given up to having a good 
time. 

The Chinese baby's name, as I have told you, is not for life, 
as yours is. He has a new one on every important occasion ; 
besides these you have heard of he has still another if he gets 
into public office, which is called his official name. There's 
another thing about his name ; he writes it backward, as we 
should say. As if your friend John Smith should write his 
name Smith John. 

The Chinese girl has still another trouble about her name ; 
when she is married she drops, not her family name as we do, 



3 28 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



but her own name. Suppose Mary Jones married John Smith, 
or, to speak Chinese fashion, Jones Mary married Smith John. 
Her married name would be Smith Jones Mrs., not Mrs. Mary 
Smith, as with us. Isn't that funny to our notions? 

Now, how does the Chinese youngster eat ? We've been hear- 
ing about some very queer modes of eating since we began to 
hunt out the ways of little people. 




RATS FOR SALE. 



Well, he doesn't eat on the floor like other little . Asiatics, 
though he does eat strange things. Neither does he eat with 
his fingers, but with a pair of " nimble lads," which we call 
chopsticks. These are simply two small sticks, which may be 
of bamboo, ivory, or gold, as he can afford. Each person has his 
own, and may carry them in an elegant case hung to his waist. 



THEY EAT RATS AND PUPPIES. 



329 



Though they eat at a table, it is not like our dinner. The 
dishes are placed in a sort of pyramid, and everything is cut 
to small bits. That is necessary, indeed, when there are no 
knives or forks. Our way of eating meat at the table they 
regard as barbarous, as in fact they do most of our ways. 

They eat meat and vegetables, especially rice ; almost every- 
thing that we do, and some that we do not, as puppies, kittens, 
and rats. Here is a Chinese picture showing the peddler of 
rats. But their great delight, their tip-top luxury, is watermelon 
seeds. These are sold everywhere ; in the villages, on the 
streets, and everywhere ; junks on the rivers will be loaded 
with these seeds alone. People always have them, and they 
munch them during business, before dinner, traveling, and every- 
where they go. 

In some places melons are grown almost entirely for the seeds, 
and in these places ripe melons will be placed on the road for 
every passer-by to eat, with the sole request that the seeds are 
left for the owner. The long nails which many wear are very 
handy to strip off the shell of the precious seeds, and it looks 
very funny to see grave Chinamen at the business. 

On page 331 is a girl with fresh vegetables for sale. Her two 
pretty baskets, hung from a bamboo pole, don't look much like 
our vegetable peddlers with carts or great ugly baskets on their 
arms or heads (if they happen to be German). See what a 
fine shade hat she has, like a parasol with a hook on top. 

The place in which the little " celestial " lives is as interesting 
as anything about him. No broad streets with name on every 
corner, no high blocks of buildings, no long row of residences, 
no horses and carriages, no street cars. 

Let me tell you : in the biggest cities the most important 



330 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



streets are not over ten feet wide, and many are much narrower. 
Then every little way the street is cut off by a gate across it, 
and on the gate is put the name, such as the " street of a hun- 




PEDDLER OF SWEETS. 



dred grandsons." Queer shapes their gates have, too ; see this 
round one from Pekin, on page 333. 

Farther on is a street in Canton, with its tall signs on both 



33 2 LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 

sides. In the country the roads are often mere narrow paths, 
hardly wide enough for two men to pass. 

The shops are all open to the street, and some of them in 




TOYS FOR SALE. 



Pekin are so beautiful with carving, gilding, and painting, that 
they look as if they ought to be kept under glass. Besides shops 
for everything that we have, there are lantern-shops, and others 



334 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



which furnish everything for processions, of which the people are 
so fond — bridal or funeral processions, with the men and boys 
to carry things, as the bride's wardrobe, which goes in state 
through the streets. 

The signboards stand on end in their streets, and queer ones 
are seen by the stranger who understands the language, such 
as " Black cat served hot at all hours.'' Why poor puss must 
be black is only one more Chinese mystery. 

An interesting thing to watch in a Chinese city is the long 
string of peddlers, for almost anything can be bought of them. 
There is the seller of sweets, as nice to the little Chinese as your 
finest candies to you, on page 330; he has a box on one end of 
the bamboo pole which he carries across his shoulders, and a 
mysterious covered can on the other end, and he calls attention 
by beating on a gong. 

There's another gong-beater. He sells toys. Look at the 
wonders he has in his queer-shaped basket ; dolls, and carts, 
and balls, and tops, and flags, and dishes, and dozens of other 
things. 

Then there is the peddler of bread, in odd little loaves like 
rolls or biscuit, who look droll enough sitting on the ground by 
their trays, as you see on page 336. 

One of the strangest things to see in the streets is a a temple, 
or what we should call a church. See the curious decorations, 
the dragons on the roof, and the many signs standing each side 
of the door. (Page 337.) 

I have shown you some other people at their prayers. Look 
at a Chinaman (page 338). The wheel he stands by is a Prayer 
Mill. Each bit of paper on the end of a spoke is a written 
prayer, and all he has to do is to turn the wheel around. As 



STREET IN CANTON. 



33^ 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



many times as it whirls through the air, so many times has he 
uttered all the prayers written on the papers. So he thinks, 
and you see liow earnestly he does his work. 

The little Chinese whose father is poor, lives in a low, one- 
story house, , without windows, or with one opening closed by 
board shutters. He has no chimney, fire-place, or stove, no 
rugs, or mats, or carpets. 




BREAD-SELLERS. 



His stove to keep warm is a tiny affair, a sort of lamp which 
burns oil, and which he carries about in his hands or his sleeve, 
and the cooking range is simply a portable affair, a sort of fire- 
box, that can be carried into any room when it is wanted. 

He needs no carpets or rugs, for he carries his own in the 
thick, soft soles of his shoes. You see, the idea in China is not 



338 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



to be sociably comfortable, but each one for himself. So as they 
do everything the other way from our way, of course they keep 
fuel, that we store in the cellar, on the roof, and in Canton, 




PRAYER MILL. 



where ground-room is very scarce, they even do much house- 
work in the same place, as well as lounge and sleep there. 



RICH CHINESE HOUSES. 



339 



But the rich little Chinese fares better. His home is very grand 
indeed, of marble, carved so finely that it might be jewelers* 
work, chairs and tables and floors of marble, and ebony, and 
porcelain. Fine gardens, as you see here, with artificial lakes, 




IN THE GARDEN. 



flowers and trees. There will be no windows to be seen, only 
shutters which open half the house to the air, and doors of all 
sorts of queer shapes, round, or leaf-shaped, or semi-circular. 



340 



Little people oe asia. 



Even this fine house will be of one story generally, probably 
because it is impossible for little feet to go up and down stairs, 
though here is the house of a rich man which is two stories 
high. 

The strangest piece of furniture to be seen in the houses is, 
an elegant coffin, which is considered a very choice present for 
a child to give to his father, and is kept in a conspicuous place, 
where everybody can see how very filial is the giver. If the 
daughter of the house wishes to give an elegant present to a pa- 
rent, she will embroider a beautiful white silk winding-sheet to 
go with it. 

To take the place of door-plates, the Chinese gentleman 
hangs before the door a lantern with his name and title on it. 
The father in this elegant house will probably wear immense 
nails on his fingers. He will carefully tend and cultivate them, 
till they are several inches long, often as long as his hand, and 
then he may have them stained and polished to look like tortoise- 
shell. If he is a merchant he will look like that on page 343. 

Naturally things so delicate as finger nails would easily break, 
so this fine gentleman protects them by long cases fitted over 
them, and made of silver or gold, or even of bamboo. This 
is the height of refinement in Chinese eyes, probably because 
it shows plainly that he never descends to work. 

The mother indicates her elegance by her useless little feet, 
which they call " golden lilies," and she may spend her time 
in playing games of cards, being amused by various . people 
hired for the purpose, and above all by dressing, or rather 
being dressed. 

The house that most concerns travelers in China is the hotel, 
and that's the oddest yet. See one over the leaf. See the 



OF THE LITTLE CHINESE. 



342 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



curious windows, and the lantern hung up to light it. But the 
strangest thing about it is the brick sort of platform, which goes 
across the back and part way on the sides. 




IN A HOTEL. 



You may not think it, but that is the hotel bed ! And worse 
still, the only one in the house. 

At present a person, the landlord perhaps, or maybe a guest, 




CHINA BOY'S PAPA. 



344 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



sits there smoking ; but when night comes, a great fire will be 
built under it to warm it up, and every traveler who comes will 
roll himself in his own blankets and lie down, his head to the 
wall, and his feet at the outside edge. 

Each new-comer will join the row of human bundles, till 
before morning the whole bed, or kang, may be full. In the 
morning all will get up, some will start off on foot, and others 
perhaps in such a traveling carriage as this on page 346, with 
a driver to each horse. 

But there are thousands of little people in this strange land 
who never live in a house at all ; they live in boats. In Canton 
there are miles and miles of boats, making streets by themselves, 
and all anchored in the river. Here the babies sleep in a hole 
in the bottom, packed like herrings, while father, and mother, 
and other grown-ups occupy the seats, or shelves, that pull out 
of the side. Here is a boat baby in his home. 

When little, these boat babies are tied by a cord to the mast, 
so they will not fall overboard, or sometimes wear around their 
necks a gourd or two, to keep their heads above water. 

Others, that live by fishing, have a different kind of boat, 
(Page 347). What sort of fishing is this ? Wouldn't it be fun, 
boys, to fish by simply running up and down a plank, like the 
China boy in the picture. When the plank goes up the net 
goes down, and when the boy turns and goes down, the net 
comes up, full of fish, sometimes. 

There are other queer little folk in China ; there's a girl who 
works for her bread, with a handkerchief tied over her head, 
and her big shade hat in her hand ; and next is a country girl, 
with a queerer head-covering yet. She belongs to the Chinese 
island of Formosa, and is called a Pepohoan. 




HOME OF THE BOAT BABIES. 



34-6 LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



The people called by this name, though really Chinese, are 
said to be much more sincere and simple-minded than their race 
in China proper, and altogether pleasanter people to live with. 




TRAVELING. 



On page 351 is a mother and baby. This sober little fellow, 
you see, rides in a sling. 

There is one thing in which the little people of China (and 
the big ones too) beat the world, and that is in superstition. At 



FISHING. 



348 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA 




YOUNG GIRL. 



least, it is to be hoped that no other people believe in such 
terrible things as they do. It is their settled opinion that the 
air is full of evil influences, whose constant endeavor is to harm 
them, and their whole life is full of attempts to keep them away. 





CHINESE GIRL. 



35o 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



This is a dreadful belief. The China boy begins his baby life 
by wearing charms ; he makes offerings to the evil spirits, he 
consults omens, he guides his conduct by lucky and unlucky 
days. He never sets his house square with his neighbor's ; a 
pointed roof must not turn toward his house, bad influence 
must be kept off his roof by a porcelain cat sitting down, and 
looking away. Opposite an alley a post must be placed, to 
break the force of evil ; and out of a window he hangs a basket 
to catch the spirit ; everywhere he pastes printed prayers, in the 
house, on farming tools, all over the boat-houses. 

Fire-crackers are a great charm to frighten off evil, and are 
used on every occasion. The Chinese classics are a charm when 
placed under the pillow, and a mirror hung on the house outside 
will reflect back the evil. Under the door-sill are placed coins, 
and on the junks are painted eyes, to scare the monsters of the 
deep. 

One hardly knows whether to laugh at the childishness of 
these notions, or to pity a nation which believes them. 

If a child is delicate, they try to cheat the evil spirit, which 
they think is tormenting him, in several equally curious ways. 
They wish to make the spirit think that he is not very important, 
and it is not worth his while to bother about that child. So 
they sometimes make him wear a hideous mask, and sometimes 
pretend to give him away, that they care so little for him, that 
he now belongs to some one else ; and really and truly, children, 
some friends will take the boy home, as though he belonged to 
them. 

If that does not cure him, they try the Hundred Families' 
Lock. This is done by the father, who collects from a hundred 
families a few cash each. With this money he buys a silver 



"HUNDRED FAMILIES' LOCK. 



351 



lock, which is hung by a chain around the child's neck. Thus 
each of the hundred families has a hold on him to " lock him 
to life." 




IN A SLING. 



When the China boy's father and mother are dead, you may 
think he is relieved from the duties to them that are so impor- 



4 



352 



LITTLE PEOPLE OE ASIA. 



tant during their life. Little do you know of their ingenuity ; 
they still keep them supplied with clothes and furniture, ser- 
vants, and everything they think they can need in that unseen 
world to which they have gone. 

But how do they send them ? That would be a poser to us, 
ignorant barbarians that we are ! But it has no difficulties to a 
Chinese mind. The friends arc invisible, of course the gifts 
must be invisible, and no way so quickly makes them so as burn- 
ing; so the gifts are burnt. But being burnt, paper is as good 
as cloth, so reason these filial children. So they buy the gar- 
ments, etc., made of paper, pack them in a big trunk, or a ward- 
robe made of bamboo and paper, touch a light to it, and think 
they have made a valuable present to their dead parents or 
friends. Millions of dollars' worth are burnt up in this way 
every year, it is said. 

The geography that the little people of China learn is some- 
thing peculiar. They are taught that ,China is the center of the 
earth, and that the people who live around the edges of that 
blissful country are wild to get into it. They learn that some 
of these outside barbarians hop on one leg, that others have 
claws like a bird ; some, they are told, have one eye in their 
foreheads, and others have holes through their bodies, so that 
they can be carried by a pole thrust through. To which of these 
races we belong they haven't told us yet. 

There's one very lovely thing about the Chinese, which will 
be pleasant to hear, after all these unpleasant things. They are 
fond of pets, and are very kind to them. Birds of various 
kinds are kept as pets, and it is not at all uncommon to see fine- 
looking, elegantly dressed gentlemen taking their birds out for 
an airing, either in a cage, or perched on their finger. They 



A CHINESE STORY. 



353 



catch insects to feed them, and even take them to the mountains 
for change of air. 

Crows are not hated, but are taught cunning tricks and win- 
ning ways, and pigeons have bamboo whistles fastened to their 
feathers, so they make noise as they fly. Even cats are taught 
to live in bird-houses, to protect the birds from rats. 

One very popular bird pet is called, at least by travelers, the 
tumbler, because his constant delight is to turn somersets on 
his perch. Over and over, again and again, this queer fellow 
will go, every time alighting on his feet, and appearing to do it 
purely for fun. 

Perhaps the queerest pet (and of course the Chinese would 
have something of that sort) is the cricket. This little creature 
belongs more to the boys perhaps, though many grown-up men 
and women keep them. They are carefully fed, and provided 
with water, in pretty little bamboo cages, and often carried out 
with the owner. The ladies like them for their cheerful chirps, 
but the men and boys match them for fighting. 

It must be great sport to see a cricket fight in a tub ! The 
insect which beats in several fights is regarded with honor, has a 
special name, and is buried in a silver coffin. 

A Chinese story is somewhat different from those you have 
heard before. It is very often about boys who have* risen from 
poverty to be great men by study, for much as we may laugh 
at what we consider their queer ways, we must acknowledge 
that the people of China have a sincere respect for intelligence 
and learning. 

And we must not forget, either, that our ways are as strange 
to them, and they do not hesitate to laugh at us, to make fun of 
us, by pictures and in other ways. 
23 



354 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



The story I will tell you is as well known to the Chinese boy, 
says Mr. Williams (from whose book I take it), as the story of 
Washington and his hatchet is to you. It is about one of those 
very, very good, and dreadfully wise boys, that one rarely sees 
outside of the story-books. It is about 

Confucius and Hiang Toh. 

" The name of Confucius was Yu, and his style Chungni ; he 
established himself as an instructor in the western part of the 
kingdom of Lu. One day, followed by all his disciples, riding 
in a carriage, he went out to ramble, and on the road came 
across several children at their sports ; among them was one 
who did not join in them. Confucius, stopping his carriage, 
asked him, saying : 

" * Why is it that you alone do not play ? ' 

" The lad replied : 

"'All play is without any profit; one's clothes get torn and 
they are not easily mended ; above me I disgrace my father, 
and mother ; below me there is righting and altercation ; so 
much toil and no reward, how can it be a good business? It is 
for these reasons that I do not play.' 

" Then dropping his head he began making a city out of 
pieces of tile. Confucius reproving him, said : 

"■ 1 Why do you not turn out for the carriage ? ' 

" The boy replied : 

" ' From ancient times until now, it has always been con- 
sidered proper for a carriage to turn out for a city, and not for a 
city to turn out for a carriage.' 

" Confucius then stopped his vehicle in order to discourse of 
reason. He got out of the carriage and asked him: 



A VERY, VERY GOOD BOY. 



355 



" ■ You are still young in years, how is it that you are so 
quick ? ' 

" The boy replied, saying : 

" ■ A human being at the age of three years discriminates be- 
tween his father and mother; a hare, three days after it is born, 
runs over the ground ; fish, three days after their birth, wan- 
der in rivers and lakes ; what heaven thus produces naturally, 
how can it be called brisk ? ' 

" Confucius added : 

"'In what village and neighborhood do you reside; what is 
your surname and name, and what your style ? ' 

" The boy answered : 

I live in a mean village, and in an insignificant land; 
my surname is Hiang, my name is Toh, and I have yet no 
style.' 

" Confucius rejoined : 

" ' I wish to have you come and ramble with me ; what do 
you think of it ? ' 

" The youth replied : 

" ' A stern father is at home, whom I am bound to serve ; an 
affectionate mother is there, whom it is my duty to cherish ; a 
worthy elder brother is at home whom it is proper for me to 
obey, with a tender younger brother whom I must teach ; and 
an intelligent teacher is there, from whom I am required to 
learn. How have I leisure to go a-rambling with you ? ' 

" Confucius said : 

" ' I have in my carriage thirty-two chessmen ; what do you 
say to having a game together ? ' 
" The lad answered : 

"'If the emperor love gaming, the empire will not be gov- 



356 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



erned ; if the nobles love play, the government will be impeded ; 
if scholars love it, learning and investigation will be lost and 
thrown by ; if the lower classes are fond of gambling they will 
utterly lose the support of their families ; if servants and slaves 
love to game, they will get a cudgeling ; if farmers love it, they 
miss the time for ploughing and sowing ; for these reasons I 
shall not play with you.' 

[I shall have to omit some of this long story, for I'm sure you 
would skip the wise replies of this little phenomenon. After 
a while Confucius put some conundrums to him.] 

" ' Can you tell under the whole sky what fire has no smoke, 
what water no fish ; what man has no wife, what woman no hus- 
band ; what constitutes an excellent man, and what an inferior 
man ; what is that which has not enough, and what that which 
has an overplus ; what city is without a market ; and who is the 
man without a style?' 

" The boy replied : 

" ' A glow-worm's fire has no smoke, and well-water no fish ; 
genii have no wives, and fairies no husbands ; he who is worthy 
is an excellent man, and a fool is an inferior man ; a winter's day 
is not long enough, and a summer's day is too long ; the impe- 
rial city has no market, and little folks have no style.' 

[After several more questions, and equally wise answers, the 
boy takes his turn at asking.] 

" ' Why is it that mallards and ducks are able to swim ; how 
is it that wild geese and cranes sing ; and why are firs and pines 
green through the winter? 1 

" Confucius replied : 

" ' Mallards and ducks can swim because their feet are broad ; 
wild geese and cranes can sing because they have long necks ; 



CONUNDR UMS. 



357 



firs and pines remain green through the winter because they 
have strong hearts.' 
" The youth rejoined : 

" ' Not so ; fishes and turtles can swim, is it because they all 
have broad feet ? frogs and toads can sing, is it because their 
necks are long? the green bamboo keeps fresh in winter, is 
it on account of its strong heart ? ' 

" Again interrogating, he said: 

" ' How many stars are there all together in the sky ? ' 
" Confucius replied : 

" ' At this time inquire about the earth ; how can we converse 
about the sky with certainty ? ' 
" The boy said : 

" ' Then how many houses in all are there upon the earth ? ' 
" The sage answered : 

" 1 Come now, speak about something that is before our eyes ; 
why must you converse about heaven and earth ? ' 
" The lad resumed : 

" 1 Well, speak about what's before our eyes ; how many hairs 
are there in your eyebrows ? ' 

" Confucius smiled, but did not answer, and turning round to 
his disciples, called them, and said : 

" ' This boy is to be feared ; for it is easy to see that the sub- 
sequent man will not be like the child.' 

" He then got into his carriage and rode off." 

There's another sort of story quite as popular as these about 
preternatually wise boys who are able to put their teachers to 
shame, or boys and girls so very, very good that they quite over- 
whelm their relatives and friends. They deal with magic. Here 
is a little one (from Mr. Williams's book also). We will call it 



358 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



The Magic Plum-tree. 

" A villager was once selling plums in the market, which were 
rather delicious and fragrant, and high in price ; and there was 
a Tau priest, clad in ragged garments of coarse cotton, begging 
before his wagon. 

" The villager scolded him, but he would not go off ; where- 
upon, becoming angry, he reviled and hooted at him. The priest 
said : 

"'The wagon contains many hundred plums, and I have only 
begged one of them, which for you, respected sir, would cer- 
tainly be no great loss ; why, then, are you so angry ? ' 

" The spectators advised to give him a poor plum and send 
him away, but the villager would not consent. 

" The workmen in the market, disliking the noise and clamor, 
furnished a few coppers, and bought a plum, which they gave 
the priest. He, bowing, thanked them, and turning to the 
crowd, said : 

" 1 I do not wish to be stingy, and request you, my friends, to 
partake with me of this delicious plum.' 
" One of them replied : 

" ' Now you have it, why do you not eat it yourself ? ' 
" ' I want only the stone to plant ! ' said he, eating it up at a 
munch. 

"When eaten, he held the stone in his hand, and taking a 
spade off his shoulder, dug a hole in the ground several inches 
deep, into which he put it, and covered it with earth. 

" Then turning to the market-people, he procured some broth, 
with which he watered and fertilized it; and others, wishing to 
see what would turn up, brought him boiling dregs from shops 
near by, which he poured upon the hole just dug. 



THE PLUMS WERE GONE! 



359 



" Every one's eyes being fixed upon the spot, they saw a 
crooked shoot issuing forth, which gradually increased till it 
became a tree, having branches and leaves ; flowers, and then 
fruit succeeded, large, and very fragrant, which covered the tree. 

"The priest approached the tree, plucked the fruit and gave 
the beholders ; and when all were consumed, he felled the tree 
with a colter, chopping, chopping for a good while, until at last, 
having cut it off, he shouldered the foliage in an easy manner 
and leisurely walked away. 

"When first the priest began to perform his magic arts, the 
villager was also among the crowd, with outstretched neck and 
gazing eyes, and completely forgot his own business. When 
the priest had gone he began to look into his own wagon, and 
lo ! it was empty of plums : and for the first time he perceived 
that what had just been distributed were all his own goods. 

" Moreover, looking narrowly about his wagon he saw that the 
dashboard w as gone, having just been cut off with a chisel. Much 
excited and incensed, he ran after him, and as he turned the cor- 
ner of the wall, he saw the board thrown down beneath the 
hedge, it being that with which the plum-tree was felled. No- 
body knew where the priest had gone, and all the market-folks 
laughed heartily." 



360 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE HAPPIEST BABY OF ALL ; THE LITTLE JAPANESE. 

I HAVE saved till the last the youngster that has the very- 
happiest time of any little body in the world. 

Not because I didn't wish to tell about him. No, indeed ! 
All the time you were hearing about the unfortunate little Turk, 
the naughty little Syrian, the caste-bound little Hindu, and 
worst of all, the wretched little Chinese, I kept thinking of this 
dear comfortable little soul, and longing to tell. 

But I thought I would keep the best for the last, and so here 
it is, the happiest of all, the baby of Japan. 

A queer, wise-looking little bundle is the Japanese Ko ; a 
baby without a cradle or baby-carriage, who never cries, and is 
never kissed, and who looks exactly like a picture from a fan or 
a teapot. Here he is, on his nurse's back. 

This little man, who looks so solemn that one wouldn't ven- 
ture to address him in what is called " baby talk," begins his life, 
according to law, with twenty-four dresses, twelve of silk, and 
twelve of cotton, with the hems dyed yellow. 

It seems rather droll for the law to dictate how many dresses 
a baby shall have, but the Japanese wise men go even beyond 
this in their laws. One of baby's dresses must be made from 
his mother's girdle, which has been dyed sky-blue, and after 



NEVER CRIES. 



361 



the child's first bath it must be dried with a cotton kerchief 
without a hem. 

These important matters being properly attended to, the baby 
gets a name when he is seven days old. Getting a name is not 
for life, as it is for you; it is only for his first seven years. At 
seven he has a new name, and at fifteen still another. He's even 
more changeable in the 
matter of names than a 
Chinese, for all through 
life, when he goes to a 
new place, begins a new 
business, or goes out of 
business altogether, he 
takes a new one. It is, 
of course, his given 
name which is so often 
changed. 

" Never cries," I said, 
and so say the people 
who have visited him in 
his home. Now, this is 
the second baby we 
have found in Asia, who 
never, or almost never, 
indulges in the terrible shrieks that nearly drive us frantic in 
our nurseries. The reason is the same in both cases, they are 
comfortable ! 

The little Hindu is quiet and calm, because he has not a rag 
to bind him anywhere, not a pin to prick, nor a string to cut ; 
and the little Japanese, though warmly dressed, is equally 




362 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



happy. His dress is loose and soft, he rolls about on the clean 
mats of the floor, with no tables or chairs to hurt himself 
against, no stairs to fall down, no stove to burn him. He has 
no curls to be combed, and no shoes to pinch him; no " don't 
touch" rings in his ears, and a slap is a thing unknown. He 
can't get into mischief in a Japanese house, and so he is never 
scolded. Now, why shouldn't a baby be happy and good- 
natured in Japan ? 

There's another reason ; his father and mother take life easier 
than we do. They never grow so very much older than the 
little folks, that they forget the time they were young them- 
selves. They play with them, and in every way enter into their 
lives. When the mothers go out to visit their friends, the little 
folks go too, as you see in this happy picture, where everybody, 
from the droll little baby on mamma's back to the great lady 
with the parasol, seems to be having a good time. The little 
people are not the only happy ones in Japan. 

While the Japanese Ko is still young he is labelled (as it were), 
so that he shall not be lost. The name and address of his 
parents is engraved upon a brass plate, which is always fastened 
to his girdle. If he loses his way, the first older person who sees 
him can easily learn where he belongs, and return him to his 
home. 

Because this child has no baby carriage, do not fancy he stays 
at home. He sees much more of the life about him than do 
our poor little bundled-up babies, covered with a veil, and laid 
flat on their backs, where they can see only the sky, generally 
with a glaring sun in it, or the parasol which shades them. 

The poor baby of Japan sees the world from the back of 
somebody. Sometimes it is mamma who carries him about at 




himself, yet baby is strapped to his back, and he goes out to 
run around the streets, to play and jump, as if he had no burden 
at all. 



364 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



He gets many a tumble, and his head joggles about as though 
it would come off ; but he doesn't mind that ; he looks as wise 
as an owl, with his little bare head so close to his brother's or 

sister's, that they 

\x h V 4j ~<~- — 

^ ^ } \%d< ^jpJ : "._/ v f to g ether 1 k 

like a two-head- 
ed monster of 
some sort. 

The rich, or at 
least the aristo- 
cratic youngster 
of Japan, has a 
nurse, or an offi- 
cer to carry him 
about. Now the 
upper classes, 
even the babies, 
have a right to 
carry two swords, 
so this grave lit- 
tle fellow will 
have, perhaps, a 
short sword in 
his own girdle, 
while a large one 
is carried for him 
by the nurse, or 
by another at- 
tendant. Soon after he can stand on his own feet, however, he 
wears his own two swords. Here is a picture of one of these 




AN ARISTOCRATIC BABY. 



A REALLY GOOD CHLLD. 



365 



little fellows, led by his servant, with his sister carrying his 
sword. 

[I ought, perhaps, to say he used to do so, for great changes 
are going on in Japan, and things are different now. But, as I 
have said before, I want to tell you of the native manners, not 
of those which are copied from other people.] 

All this time the youngster's head has been shaved clean as a 
base-ball (a new one, by the way), but he grows very fast out of 
babyhood. First, he learns, not to creep, like our babies, but to 
squat ! and to sit on his heels ! This is the Japanese way, and 
this he must learn. When he has lived a certain number of 
days, not far from four months, he goes through a formal cere- 
mony of taking solid food, and putting off baby-clothes. 

The food is rice, and it is to be hoped that he likes it, for rice 
he will eat every day of his life, if he lives to be a hundred 
years old. If the child is a boy, he is fed on this impor- 
tant occasion by a gentleman, if it is a girl she is fed by a 
lady. 

As soon as the little one can stand, begins his training in 
" manners " Ah ! now, American little folk, hide your heads 
with shame, while I tell you what all travelers agree in saying 
about these little men and women far over the sea, whom we 
laugh at, and think so inferior to ourselves. Listen ! 

In the matter of behavior the child of Japan is perfection ; 
almost its first words are " please " and '* thank you ; " before he 
can walk well he can fall on his knees and bow his head to the 
ground, which he does every morning to father and mother, and 
by the time he is ten years old, he is as perfect in the forms of 
politeness as his parents themselves. He is gentle and obedient, 
he is ready to help ; no cross " I don't want to" comes when he 



3 66 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



is asked to do anything. He is good to smaller children, he 
does not " bully " nor abuse them. 

And, oh, dear children, listen to what one observing traveler 
says of these little men and women. " In all Japan I never heard 
an angry word, or saw a sour look." 

If one does chance to forget for a moment his " manners," he 
is severely punished in some way (not by whipping) and the 
offense promptly apologized for. One case is told where a 
child called a traveler " Foreign Devil " a common thing to be 
heard in China, and about as if you should call a Chinaman 
u Heathen Chinee." The child was reproved at once, and a 
policeman sent to the lady to make an apology for his ill man- 
ners. 

The grave dignity of these little people is funny to see, and 
their dress makes them look like old people cut down. But 
don't think for a moment that the little Japanese are " prigs," 
or that they don't have splendid times. Nowhere on the round 
globe do they have more fun than in Japan. In fact the coun- 
try has been called " The Paradise of Children ; " though they 
do not enjoy the rough-and-tumble games you like, the pulling 
and pushing, the scrambling, the shrieking, and the angry 
words. 

They consider such things barbarous, and would no more do 
them than would your father and mother. They do wrestle 
together, and growl at each other like two dogs in unhappy 
mood, just as the grown-up wrestlers do, but they do not get 
angry over it, nor do they have such a rough time as you do in 
wrestling. 

To speak again of the baby ; at four years old thin patches of 
hair are allowed to grow on his head, one on the back and one 



LIKE JAPANESE DOLLS. 367 

on each side, as you have seen in Japanese dolls; and at five 
years the upper-class youngster is put into the very wide trow- 
sers worn by his rank. 




SITTING BY THE FIRE. 



As to the dress of little people, it is exactly like that of the 
grown-ups, and is simply a dressing-gown tied around the waist 
with a girdle. This is — or was till lately — almost the only dress 



3 68 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



of the common people of Japan, from the baby of two, to the 
grandfather and grandmother, men, women, and children all 
alike. 

When the weather is warm, they wear one thin garment of 
this shape folded over in front and held in place by a belt ; if it 
is cold, they add more of the same shape, thickly wadded, and 
made of silk or cotton according to the length of their purse. 

Men and big boys wear belts three or four inches wide, but 
women and girls have sashes a foot or more wide and tied in an 
immense bow at the back, often with stiffening in to keep them 
in shape. 

There are no underclothes to drag on one, no hats to look 
after, no shoes to pinch one's toes. Think how nice and easy 
one would feel ! Dress up in papa's dressing-gown some day, 
tie it loosely around the waist, put on a pair of stockings, and 
see how comfortable you'll be. Then remember, you girls, 
that there are no ruffles and neckties, no ruches, no collars, no 
ribbons, no French heels and no tight waists, truly not a re- 
straint upon one anywhere ; what luxury ! 

See them on the page back sitting by the fire, waiting for the . 
tea-kettle to boil. 

I don't say I admire everything about the Japanese dress, but 
I do say it is comfortable. 

By way of ornament to the dressing-gown, boys often have 
the crest of their family embroidered on the back. 

The Japanese youngster's stocking is a funny affair. It is to 
take the place of both stocking and slipper in the house, for the 
high clogs and sandals he wears in the street, are always left at 
the door when he goes in. His stockings, therefore, are made 
of cloth, not woven or knit like ours. They are white or some 



A BIG DOLL-HOUSE. 



369 



color, with very thick soles, and shaped like a mitten, with a 
* separate place for the big toe. This fashion is not to do honor 
to the big toe, but to make a place through which may go the 
straps of the clogs, since they are held on by one strap alone. 

Perhaps you are shocked at the idea of going about the house 
in white stockings, and in our houses it would not be very nice. 
But a house in Japan is quite a different affair. 

A Japanese house is like a doll-house, and neat as a pin from 
roof to floor. It is small and low, and looks as if made for a 
family of wax dolls. The only really solid things about most of 
these houses are the roof, which is of wood, and the floor. The 
side walls (always on two sides, and often on all four) are of 
paper, stretched upon frames, and make to slide back. A 
thinner paper stretched over a lattice-work screen is the only 
apology for a window. 

Isn't this like a box? Think of a house without doors or 
windows ! If you want to go out you simply shove one side a 
part of the wall of the house, and walk out anywhere. On the 
next page is a lady in her room, made by screens. 

This is not very secure against thieves ! That is true ; but 
nearly every house has behind it a small fireproof building, of 
a more solid kind, in which are kept all the treasures of the 
family. Their valuable old china, tl^eir beautiful wall pictures, 
in fact, all valuables are locked up in this storehouse. 

We shouldn't think pictures were of much use locked up in a 
storehouse, but that's another thing in which the Japanese differ 
from us. They do not show all their pretty things at once. 
For a few days one picture will hang on the wall to be looked 
at and admired, and then it will be taken away and another 
one brought out. So you see they have variety all the time. 
24 



37o 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



The want of doors and windows is not the only queer thing 
about the little Jap's home. There's not a chair in the house, 
nor a bedstead, nor even a bed ; not a table, except one fit for 




SCREENS FOR WALLS. 



dolls, about six inches high, as you see in the picture of Japanese 
girls. Not a fork, not a table-cloth, nor a sheet. 

All the family cooking is done within its paper walls ; yet 



DOORS FOR THE RATS. 



371 



there is not a stove, nor fire-place, nor even a chimney to the 
house. Outside the door hangs a list of the names of the 
people inside, and if a guest comes his name must be added at 
once. Drollest of all, to prevent the rat family from cutting 
doors through the walls, in the irregular shape that rats usually 
cut them, the builders kindly cut square doors for the small 
gnawers to come in ! 

Have you guessed the conundrum about the cooking? How 
can they cook without a stove? How can they make smoke 
without a chimney? They cook over a small brass dish of coals, 
which is placed on a box of sand, so as not to set the house 
afire (as you saw in the picture) ; and they have no smoke 
because they use charcoal. 

Dinner looks like a " make believe " dolls' party. It is served 
in tiny bowls the size of tea-cups, on a six-inch-high table, that 
may be a foot and a half square ; just a fair doll's table. Tea 
is drunk from cups as big as a thimble, and the diners sit on the 
floor to eat. It's a real doll-house affair, altogether. 

But I said no chairs ? Now you see why everybody sits on 
the floor ! Another thing about it, there's no lounging in all 
Japan ; one must lie down or sit up, for there are not only no 
easy chairs, but not even solid walls to lean against. If one 
leaned against a wall he would break through to the out- 
side. 

The whole house is one room, with paper walls, and thick, 
soft, white mats on the floor ; but if rooms are wanted they are 
easily made in this paper play-house. Screens of paper on 
frames are slid into grooves between the mats of the floor, and 
a room partitioned off in a few minutes. To be sure, there is 
no privacy about it ; one can hear every word spoken in the 



372 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



house, and a pin-hole through the wall is as good as a window 
to " peek " through. 

There is, of course, no such thing as locking one's door, and 
going to bed is as simple as it is, to us, odd. To begin with, 
everybody takes a hot bath, and puts on his day clothes again. 
Then the house is shut up, all screens slid into their places, 
leaving not a crack for fresh air, and beds are made. 

This is as much like doll's doings as the rest ; a thick quilt is 
spread on the mat of the floor ; over one's day clothes is put a 
long wadded wrapper with enormous sleeves. Next, a pillow of 
wood, shaped like a cradle-rocker, and having a wad of paper 
to rest the neck on, is placed at the head, which, by the way, 
must not be towards the north. So particular are the people 
about the points of the compass, that private houses have them 
marked on the walls, and many carry a small compass with 
them, that no mistake shall be made. 

This matter settled, the one going to bed places at his (or 
her) head a tray of food, and smoking utensils, lest he (or she) 
should wake in the night and wish to eat or smoke. A lantern, 
too, belongs to the sleeping-room ; for one and all, from grandpa 
down to the least Japanese ko, dislike darkness, and always 
keep lights burning at night. 

On his quilt the contented Japanese, in his big night-wrapper, 
lies down, draws over him another quilt, lays his neck across his 
wooden rocker, and goes to sleep. All our fuss of bedstead 
and beds, sheets, blankets, and pillow-cases, are to him unneces- 
sary. See how comfortable he looks in the picture all settled for 
the night. 

You see he doesn't need a big house ; a doll-house will do for 
him. He can eat anywhere, cook anywhere, and sleep any- 



THE BABY JAP. 373 

where. He needs neither kitchen, dining-room, nor bed- 
room. 

In the morning he gets up, shakes himself out, rolls quilts, 
bed-robe, and pillow into a package, which he shuts up in a cup- 
board, slides back the screens from the front of the house, dusts 
off the matting, and the Japanese house is in perfect order for 
the day. 

Think of our morning work — the sweeping and dusting, bed 




ABED AND ASLEEP. 

making, and putting in order ! Japan is a paradise for house- 
keepers as well as for babies. 

The baby Jap does exactly what his father does. He has no 
nursery ; he is always with his parents ; he learns their talk ; he 
gets up and goes to bed when they do ; with them he goes to 
the public baths, or joins the group of bathers in steaming hot 
water at evening in the house. 

This same Japanese baby is a droll-looking object, exactly 



374 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



like the big dolls our merchants bring from there. They are so 
much like them that travelers say they have often mistaken a 
doll on the back of its little mistress for a baby, especially as 
most of the little girls in the street are saddled with the baby. 

The dolls, you know, have little hair, a tuft like the end of a 
brush on top, and perhaps another over each ear. That is a 
perfect copy of the head of the real live baby. His head is kept 
shaved, except these spots, till grown up, and even then most of 
the hair and all of the beard is shaved off. 

Soon after a boy is fifteen a lucky day is chosen, on which the 
forelock is cut off and he is considered a man, and of age (as we 
say). There is a great feast given in the family, and rejoicing 
on all sides. 

The hair of Japanese girls is allowed to grow, and is worn in 
"bangs" in front, and done up behind in different styles accord- 
ing to her age and condition. The way a girl's or woman's hair 
is done up tells to every one who sees it whether she is married 
or single, whether she is a widow, and even whether she would 
be willing to marry again or not. _ - 

Girls learn to sew, in this happy land, but fine stitches do not 
bother her. She has to make nothing more than the one-shaped 
garment of Japan, and that is simply basted together, so that it 
may be easily taken apart for washing. 

There are no handkerchiefs to hem ; Japanese handkerchiefs 
are of soft paper, and thrown away when once used. The only 
undergarments of Japan are worn by the upper class, and are 
made of soft silk crape, in the same dressing-gown shape. 

Girls embroider, but that is not work, and they are taught to 
arrange flowers. They make more of this than we do, and con- 
sequently do it in much better taste than we. No stiff, dreadful 



A QUIRE OF HANDKERCHIEFS. 



375 



bunches, where all sorts are jammed in together, are ever seen in 
Japan, like those that are common with us, but one sort alone, 
even one spray in a vase by itself with its own leaves and 
branches. Books are written on the subject of arranging flowers 
in Japan, and it might be well for us to have some translations. 

Little girls dress like their mothers, as I said, even the little 
ones as you see 
them here, only the 
colors are gayer ; 
scarlet flowered bro- 
cade for the wide 
sash, and scarlet 
crape in the hair 
They have also 
pretty embroidered 
cases stuck in the 
belt, to hold a quire 
of pocket handker- 
chiefs — think of car- 
rying a qu i r e of 
handkerchiefs ! 

The belt is in 
fact the most useful part of a Japanese dress. From it hang 
the purse, the school-books, done up in a square piece of silk, 
the half-round embroidered pocket of the school boy, the scar- 
let embroidered pocket of the girl, and the oversash of the 
same color which is to keep the big sash knot in place ; the ink 
and pen, and smoking apparatus of the father, the handkerchiefs 
and other things of the mother. In it too is always stuck the fan. 

But the pocket proper is the queerest thing. Where would 



\ 




376 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA, 



you guess a pocket would be? Never, I'm sure, could you 
guess. It is in the sleeve ! The sleeves are made of a straight 
piece of the cloth, folded and sewed together, and are often 
long enough to touch the ground. Only a little of this width 
is needed as a sleeve, and the rest is sewed up in front to make 
a sort of bag or pocket, into which are put the choicest treasures 
of the wearer. 

These enormous sleeves are often a nuisance, In boys' play 
they are apt to trail and get wet ; and servant girls (who wear 
the same sort, of course) have an arrangement of braces to hold 
them back out of the way, while they work. 

Now hear about the school ; we've seen some queer schools 
in our travels about the world, and the Japanese one has its odd 
points. It begins — oh dear ! — at seven o'clock in the morning ! 
before many little Americans have their eyes open. But it 
doesn't last till four o'clock ; it ends at twelve, and that's all for 
that day. 

Bad scholars are punished, of course ; they have to be pun- 
ished, I find, all over the world. Even the very, very good 
little Jap is not always perfect, and the teacher is obliged to — 
to — burn Jiim ! 

No whipping! no marking! no "keeping in!" but a neat 
little "moxa" on his finger. This " moxa" is a favorite pun- 
ishment at home too, and it is also used as a cure by the doc- 
tors. It is simply a little cone-shaped bit of some sort of pith, 
which burns slowly, like the punk you light your fire-crackers 
with. It is put on the finger of a naughty scholar, lighted, and 
let burn as long as the teacher thinks he deserves. Here is the 
school, and some of the boys'll get the moxa if they don't stop 
teasing the cat. (See frontispiece.) 



THE DOLL LS FLRST. 



377 



At twelve o'clock the little people are dismissed, go home to 
dinner, and after that they play ; and the games and the toys of 
Japan are endless. 

First there's the doll, and the doll is first in Japan, I assure 
you. Even the mothers do not disdain to play with dolls to 
please their children. The dolls themselves are of all sizes and 
kinds ; those that walk, that dance, and that put on a mask ; 
they are taken to walk, dressed and undressed, put to bed, and 
taken out " to tea ; " they have their own tea-sets and bedding, 
and their own houses ; they play sick, and in fact mimic the life 
around them, as do dolls and their mistresses all over the world. 

The great time of the year for the little Japanese girl comes 
on the third day of March. For some time before this day the 
shops are full of dolls and girls' playthings ; not a thing of the 
boyish sort will be seen. Fathers and mothers go out to buy 
dolls and dolls' furniture, toilet sets, wardrobes, and dozens of 
other things. 

On the evening before the great day, the feast of dolls ; after 
the little people are in bed, the fire-proof room of the house is 
opened, and dolls by the dozen, yes, by the hundred, are brought 
out, each wrapped carefully in silk paper. Tables are prepared, 
and the dolls (" Hina," the girls call them) set out, with their 
furniture and toys, with flowers and cakes. Some of these dolls 
have come down from the little girl's grandmother, and great- 
grandmother, for it is the custom in Japan to buy a pair of dolls 
as soon as a girl baby arrives, let her play with them till she is 
married, and then take them to her own house. 

On the great day they are brought out, with the pairs that 
belonged to her ancestors also. They are made of wood, or en- 
ameled clay, and gorgeously dressed to represent different charac- 



378 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



ters in history; the mikado and his wife, and mythological 
characters. Their dresses do not get out of fashion, for fashions 
do not (or did not) change in that country. Some of the dolls 
are four feet high. 

The special dolls of the little girls, I. mean those they play 

with every day, are 
>45&\wsasw as much loved as are 



battledore and shuttlecock, and many other games, as well as 
enjoy toy and story books, of which they have great quantities, 
of the Mother Goose sort. 

For the baby boy is bought a banner stand, which holds the 
banners of generals and military heroes. He must have a toy 




yours. As I told 
you above, they are 
treated as if they 
were babies, have 
their wadded bed- 
gown, and pair of silk 
or muslin quilts ; they 
have their toy wood- 
en pillows, and sleep, 
like their little mis- 
tress, under green 
mosquito curtains. 
They take their meals 
on a table four inches 
square. 



Besides the doll 
and its belongings, 
Japanese girls play 



JAPANESE PICTURE OF A HERO. 



THE BOYS' DAY. 



379 



helmet, to remind him that he must some day be a soldier. He 
has a sort of doll, too — figures of famous men and heroes, per- 
haps like that on the last page, which was drawn by a Japanese, 
and is in great favor. 




THE BABY'S BANNER STAND. 



Here is a baby boy's first banner stand, with its curious ban- 
ners, and the baby himself enjoying it. This too is a Japanese 
picture. 

The boys' great day is on the fifth of May, and at that time 



3 8o 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



the girls' toys have disappeared from the shops, and only boys' 
things are to be bought. Before every house where there are 
boys, a tall pole is planted, and from the top of it floats a big 
fish, sometimes twenty feet long, made of paper so as to be 
light, and having its mouth held open by a hoop, so that the 
air will fill it. 

The shops display warlike figures, toy animals, tents, racks for 
arms, and such things. Then there are the full equipments for 
a procession of one of the grandees of Japan, as it used* to be 
in the old times. The boys play this procession, with its 
officers, and men running on before to clear the way. 

They play also at a sham battle, when every boy has a 
flag, and the object of every other boy is to snatch it away. 
The boy who loses his flag must go out of the game; or they 
have the flag fastened on the back, and on the head a flat, round 
piece of earthenware. Each boy in this game has a bamboo 
sword, and tries to break the earthenware on his neighbor's 
head. If he succeeds, the owner of the broken ware has to 
leave, as if his skull was broken. 

The boys play whip-top, blind-man's-buff (called " eye-hid- 
ing "), puss-in-the-corner, knuckle-bones, or jack-stones, with 
stuffed bags for stones. They hide the slipper, or, rather, the 
shoe, have pop-guns, walk on stilts, and run as well, and play 
games on them. In the snow they coast and slide, make forts, 
play battle, and make a snow man, not a common-looking crea- 
ture smoking a pipe, but a figure of Daruma, a follower of 
Buddha, their great prophet, who meditated so long in one posi- 
tion that he lost his legs, and is always represented without any. 
This is an easy figure, you see, for the legs of a snow man are 
the hardest to make nicely. 



BOY ACROBATS. 



381 



In the evening, at home, the family gather around the fire-box, 
as we do around a fire, father, mother, and all, and tell stories, 
or play games of proverbs or puzzles, called " wisdom-boards," 
or backgammon, or chess, or make shadow pictures on the 
walls. 




Amusements are without end for the little Japanese. He 
can hardly go into the street without seeing a strolling show of 
some sort — plays, peep-shows, posturers, dancers, like this elegant 
creature; singers, toy-peddlers, or boy acrobats, who stand on 
their hands, and bring their feet over till they rest on their own 



3 82 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



head, and many other marvelous things. And above all other 
street pleasures, the batter- cake-man, who has batter and hot 
griddle always ready, and for a very small coin allows a child 
to cook cakes for himself, in any shape he pleases. What fun ! 

Then the youngsters are taken to the theatre, which opens in 
the morning, and runs one play all day. Families go together, 
take their lunch, and the little bowl of ashes and hot coals to 
make their tea, and stay till night. The play is often a fairy 
story, as a tea-pot that turned into a badger, called " The Bub- 
bling Tea-pot," and others of a similar kind. Here is a restau- 
rant of a theatre, with all its queer sights, eating, and drink- 
ing, and music. 

Or the show may be a performance with false noses, like the 
picture farther on, where everything is done with those mem- 
bers, even to writing on the wall. 

Then there are dances to be seen, which are very dif- 
ferent from ours — a fan dance, a shuttlecock dance, ball dances, 
and umbrella dances, which are both curious and amusing. In 
the picture you see one of these odd dances. It is the " But- 
terfly Dance." The dancers are dressed to imitate butterflies, 
and you can see by the one whose back is turned how good the 
imitation is. You can see there also the dress of the great 
ladies of Japan. 

There are other queer costumes of actors; one like a bird, 
another like a cock, and others like — dear me ! what are they 
like ? Can you tell ? 

Besides these a religious dance, and a beggars' dance. 

But the fireworks are the greatest show. They are of two 
sorts, for day as well as for night. The evening fireworks are 
not so very different from ours, but those displayed in the day- 



BETWEEN" THE ACTS. 



384 LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



light are unlike anything we have seen, until, within the last 
year, some few have been shown by Japanese themselves, near 
New York city. 




THE BUTTERFLY DANCE. 



These daylight fireworks are shot out of a bamboo mortar, 
and go far up in the air like a ball, and then burst with a loud 
explosion. Sometimes there fall a great number of Japanese 




WITH FALSE NOSES. 



3 86 



LITTLE PEOPLE OE ASIA. 



parasols of doll size, sometimes flags by the hundred ; but the 
most interesting are figures of men and animals. These figures 
unfold, and sail off in the air, life-size, or larger, and very curious 
they are, too. There may be an old woman hobbling along on 




ACTORS. 



a cane, or an old man smoking a pipe, out of which, as he sails 
away in the sky, comes a fox. There may be a very-much- 
scared mouse with a cat after it, a monkey blowing soap-bub- 
bles, and others both hideous and funny. 



A COCKATOO TEN FEET HIGH. 



387 



The figures are colored like life, and it looks very queer to 
see them sailing away on the breeze, always right side up, and 
at last, perhaps, falling into the sea, and floating awhile before 
they sink. They are made of paper, or light silk, and have tiny 
lead weights to keep them right side up, and holes to let the 
air in to float them. 




A RELIGIOUS DANCE. 



No people in the world are so fond of the funny and the 
grotesque as the Japanese. They even grow their shrubs and 
plants in queer shapes. This is done by means of bamboo 
frames, of the shape they wish ; it may be a cockatoo ten feet 
high, a Chinese junk, or an English lady. On this frame they 
train the plant, and make the blossoms come in such a way as 



3S8 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



to color the figures as they like. I mean, for instance, to make 
the lady's dress of white flowers, with another color to trim it. 

They make things grow about as they choose ; trees an inch 
or two high, or cherry-blossoms double, and as big as a rose. 

I haven't spoken of kites, though they are almost as popular 
in Japan as in China. They are not of so many shapes; in 




THE BEGGARS' DANCE 



fact, they are more often square than otherwise, but the people 
seem to enjoy them quite as much as the Chinese. The game 
with these toys is to cut the string of another kite, and for this 
purpose the string is covered with powdered glass. When one 
boy cuts the string of another boy's kite, the fallen one belongs 



LANTERN PEDDLER. 



39° 



LITTLE PEOPLE OE ASIA. 



to him. There is no quarrel about it, nor does the loser go off 
mad ; he gives up his kite with three low bows. 

Ah, how charming! Aren't you ashamed of your rude ways, 
when you think of the elegant manners of your little neighbors 
over the sea ? 

A kite-shop has a funny sign — nothing less than a cuttle-fish, 
because the word for kite, " tako," means, likewise, cuttle-fish. 

Japanese boys send messengers up to their kites, as you do, 
only much prettier than yours, for when it nearly reaches the 
kite, a little jerk of the string opens the small bundle, and down 
falls a shower of red and white bits of paper, like a snow-storm. 
Sometimes, too, their kites are musical, having a bit of thin 
whalebone which vibrates in the air, and makes a humming 
sound. 

The boys are so fond of big kites, that they would have them 
as big as the side of a house, only it is not allowed by law. The 
reason a law of this sort was made is, because at one time a 
party of thieves stole some of the gold scales off a fish which 
ornamented the top of a castle, and got at it by help of an 
enormous kite, big enough to carry up a man. The kite-cord 
was held by a windlass, and the man had his feet in loops on 
the kite tail, and was safely flown over the castle, alighted where 
he wished, and stole the gold. 

In almost every picture of Japan we see lanterns, and they 
are as common in real life as on the fans and other things that 
come to us, and lantern peddlers are seen everywhere Every- 
body carries one at night, and nearly every house has one hang- 
ing outside. Should it rain, an umbrella is hung over them. 
Fancy our lamp-posts with umbrellas over them ! 

One thing the little Japanese is never without is the fan ; 



EVERYBODY HAS A FAN. 



391 



indeed, everybody, from the king on his throne to the porter 
that carries loads in the street, carries a- fan. The teacher uses 
it for a ruler, the cook to fan his fire, the farmer carries it into 
the fields, and the juggler flaunts it from the top of his pile. 




A FAMOUS HERO. 



They are of waterproof paper for the wet, strong to winnow 
grain, and gay-colored for the dancing girls 

Even the famous old warriors make use of the fan, as you see 
in this picture of a very celebrated Japanese character, whose 



39 2 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



plan was to flirt his fan in the face of his enemy, to distract his 
attention, and then to give him a sudden thrust with his savage- 
looking sword. This great personage is what horsemen would 
call a "free stepper," isn't he? 

In every house is a silver rack, or some sort of a fan-holder. 
They are used for autographs, for maps, or for useful information. 

What does our little Japanese eat ? He has no bread or but- 
ter, no milk or coffee, no puddings, pies, or custards. If his 
father is not rich, he eats little meat except fish, but principally 
rice and vegetables cooked into queer-looking messes (to us), 
served in little bowls, and eaten with chop-sticks. Fruits he is 
fond of, cucumbers he delights in (even the babies suck them), 
and persimmons are large size and a golden color. Beans he 
eats covered with sugar like a sugared almond, or made into 
jelly, which must be droll to see. 

You would like to go to a Japanese girl's party, I know; but 
the best I can do is to tell you about one that took place in a 
house where an English lady, Miss Bird, was staying, and which 
she tells about in her delightful book. 

It was a formal party given by a girl of twelve. The guests 
came at about three o'clock in the afternoon, and the girl, 
named Haru, received them at the top of the steps, and invited 
them into the house, arranging them according to their rank in 
the most proper way. 

Haru's dress was elegant. Her hair was drawn back, raised 
in front, and made into a big double loop, with scarlet crape 
twisted in it. Her face and throat were thick with a white 
sort of paint, which came to an end in the back of her neck, in 
three points, considered very stylish indeed. Her lips were 
painted red, and she looked exactly like a cheap doll. 



THE GIRLS LOOK LIKE BIG DOLLS. 



393 



Her dress was of blue flowered silk, with sleeves that touched 
the ground, a blue sash lined with scarlet, and a fold of scarlet 
in her neck (instead of a ruche). On her feet she had white 
stockings, with elegant lacquered clogs for outside. In her hair 
were hair-pins, representing a tiny gold battledore, with coral 
shuttlecock. 

Her guests were dressed in the same style, and looked like a 
party of big dolls. Haru met them with very formal bows, and 
when they were seated about the floor, she went around and, 
squatting before each one, offered her tea and sweetmeats, 
among which, I suppose, were sugared beans. 

After this they played very quiet and polite games, addressing 
each other with the honorable' prefix O, and the respectful 
addition of San, as, for instance, Haru was O-Haru-San. As if 
you should call your friend " Miss." They could do no more 
by Haru's mother; they called her O-Kami-San. 

One game they played was amusing, though done with the 
greatest dignity. It was playing " sick," as you've done a hun- 
dred times. One was the invalid, and another the doctor, and 
both played their parts very well. The patient died, and they 
played bury her, and go into mourning and all. 

When it grew dark, and was time to go home, the dignified 
little misses were served again with tea and sweetmeats, and 
according to the rules of Japanese etiquette, none must be left. 
So when one had eaten all she wished, she slipped the remainder 
into her sleeve. 

Then came the formal bows and good-byes, and the guests 
went home. It was exceedingly funny ; a picture of big folks' 
life by little folks. 

In Japan, as well as in China, many things are exactly the 



394 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



wrong way, in our opinion. Shoes are made by a carpenter, 
cows' bells are hung to their tails, horses' tails are put into silk 
bags and tied up with silk tassels, and they wear straw shoes 
that are tied up with shoestrings. In the stable, horses' heads 




PAINTING UPSIDE DOWN. 

are where their tails should be ; the meat-safe hangs from the 
kitchen wall like a bird-cage, and the candle is hollow, and is 
stuck on a spike. 

Lambs are emblems of obstinacy, and to call one a goose is a 



THE ROOF IS MADE FIRST. 



395 



compliment. To drive away a dog they say " Choo," and to 
please a person they call him old. 

Workmen sit down to work ; artists sometimes paint upside 
down, screws turn the wrong way, and toys squeak when pulled. 
Grown-ups ride in baby carriages drawn by a man, and dogs 
wear ruffles on their necks. 

In building a house, the roof is made first, and hoisted into 




AN ORNAMENTED ROOF. 



place, and see what a funny roof they will make of it on a fes- 
tive occasion; and to injure an enemy, a Japanese kills, not 
the enemy, but himself ! 

There are no sidewalks in Jeddo ; turn over the leaf and see 
how the streets look; there are no Sundays, and no jewelry 
from one end of Japan to the other. 



LITTLE PEOPLE OE ASIA. 



To get rid of a bore they go into the kitchen, turn the broom 
upside down, and fan it (!), and to do honor to one of their gods 
when they have a favor to ask, they throw spit-balls at his 
image ! 

The solemn cat of Japan, who never plays with her tail, 
because it is nothing but a stump, is as great a pet of the young- 
sters as ours. Instead of " Kitty " they call it "Chop-pi," and 
here is a little song to a cat, which I take from St. Nicholas, to 
show you what sort of songs your Japanese sister sings: 

" Chop-pi ! Chop-pi ! 

Come here ! Come here ! 
If you'll only catch those naughty rats, 
I'll give you a feast for the best of cats. 

There now ! you think 

If the sea is bad, 

Your favorite fish 

Cannot be had ; 

But I'll bustle about 

And find some trout. 

Chop-pi ! Chop-pi ! 

Don't you hear ; 

Gow ! Gow ! 

Run my dear." 

You must have, too, a Japanese lullaby, such as mothers sing 
to their dear little yellow, satiny babies. 

" Sleep, my child, sleep my child, 
Where is thy nurse gone ? 
She's gone to the mountains 
To buy thee sweetmeats. 
What shall she buy thee ? 
The thundering drum, the bamboo fife, 
The trundling man, or the paper bite ?" 




A STREET IN JEDDO. 



398 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



There are other pets in Japan besides cats; in fact, the little 
people are very fond of animals. Sometimes tiny bantam 
chicks are petted and played with, and even a tree-toad will not 
be despised. Almost any animal is welcome for a pet, and a lit- 
tle water-turtle with a fringed tail is the delight of their hearts. 

These same little people are very fond of picnics, which they 




COUNTRY RESTAURANT. 



enjoy rather differently from our fashion. You see, they set up 
a screen, or a sort of curtain, around their particular spot of 
ground, and then they are almost as private as in one of their 

houses. 

If they happen to run short of things to eat, they may pro- 
vide themselves on the way from a country restaurant like this, 



400 



LITTLE PEOPLE OE ASIA. 



where everybody seems to be having a good time, and their 
famous mountain is seen in the distance. 

But not all Japanese life is fun and frolic. Here is a very 
grave man indeed, the keeper of a curiosity shop, where we out- 
side barbarians should go to buy vases and figures, and other 
fine and beautiful things to bring home with us, though perhaps 




THE MOST SOLEMN OF ALL. 



we should not leave our shoes outside, as you see most of his 
customers do. 

And there's a still more serious person in Japan, the soldier. 
See him on page 403. Life seems to be a very sober matter 
indeed to this gentleman. 




CURIOSITY SHOP. 



402 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



The most solemn personage in all Japan is, of course, among 
the highest officers ; and on page 400 you may see how very 
important they feel themselves, and how very humble must be 
the common men who appear before them. 

It is New Year's day, and the visitors are calling to offer the 
compliments of the season. They bow to the floor to salute 
the great man, who is seated on his mat with a guard behind 
him. 

For a story that has been told around the fire-box to thou- 
sands of quaint little people, squatting around on mats, I shall 
quote one from Mitford's " Tales of old Japan." 

The Battle of the Ape and the Crab. 

" If a man thinks only of his own profit, and tries to benefit 
himself at the expense of others, he will incur the hatred of 
heaven. Men should lay up in their hearts the story of the bat- 
tle of the ape and the crab, and teach it as a profitable lesson to 
their children. 

" Once upon a time there was a crab who lived in a marsh in 
a certain part of the country. It fell out one day that, the crab 
having picked up a rice-cake, an ape, who had got a nasty hard 
persimmon-seed, came up and begged the crab to make an ex- 
change with him. The crab, who was a simple-minded creature, 
agreed to this proposal ; and they each went their way, the ape 
chuckling to himself, at the good bargain he had made. 

" When the crab got home, he planted the persimmon-seed in 
his garden, and as time slipped by it sprouted, and by degrees 
grew to be a big tree t 

" The crab watched the growth of his tree with great delight ; 
but when the fruit ripened and he was going to pluck it, the ape 




SOLDIER OF JAPAN. 



404 



LITTLE PEOPLE OF ASIA. 



came in and offered to gather it for him. The crab consenting, 
the ape climbed up into the tree, and began eating all the ripe 
fruit himself, while he only threw down the sour persimmons to 
the crab, inviting him at the same time to eat heartily. 

" The crab, however, was not pleased at this arrangement, and 
thought that it was his turn to play a trick upon the ape ; so he 
called out to him to come down head foremost. 

" The ape did as he was bid ; and as he crawled down head 
foremost, the ripe fruit all came tumbling out of his pockets, 
and the crab, having picked up the persimmons, ran off and hid 
himself in a hole. 

" The ape, seeing this, lay in ambush, and, as soon as the crab 
crept out of his hiding-place, gave him a sound drubbing and 
went home. Just at this time a friendly egg, and a bee, who 
were the apprentices of a certain rice-mortar, happened to pass 
that way, and seeing the crab's piteous condition tied up his 
wounds, and having escorted him home began to lay plans to 
be revenged upon the cruel ape. 

" Having agreed upon a scheme, they all went to the ape's 
house in his absence, and each one having undertaken to play a 
certain part, they waited in secret for their enemy to come 
home. 

" The ape, little dreaming of the mischief that was brewing, 
returned home, and having a fancy to drink a cup of tea, began 
lighting the fire in the hearth, when all of a sudden the egg, 
which was hidden in the ashes, burst with the heat, and bespat- 
tered the frightened ape's face so that he fled, howling with 
pain, and crying : 

" ' Oh ! what an unlucky beast I am ! 

" Maddened with the heat of the burst egg, he tried to go to 



THE END OF THE APE. 



405 



the back of the house, when the bee darted out of a cupboard, 
and, a piece of seaweed, who had joined the party, coming up at 
the same time, the ape was surrounded by enemies. 

" In despair he seized the clothes-rack and fought valiantly for 
a while ; but he was no match for so many, and was obliged to 
run away, with the others in hot pursuit after him. 

" Just as he was making his escape by a back door, however, 
the piece of seaweed tripped him up, and the rice-mortar, closing 
with him from behind, made an end of him. 

" So the crab, having punished his enemy, went home in tri- 
umph, and lived ever after on terms of brotherly love with the 
seaweed and the mortar. Was there ever such a fine piece of 
fun?" 

I promised in the beginning to tell you strange things about 
the little people of Asia. 
Haven't I done it ? 



THE END. 



,tS^ RY 0F CONGRESS 



019 310 825 8 



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